Clash of the Two Heroes!
by Galvantula866
Summary: Part 1 of the Diagon Trilogy. See Ben and Gen become better friends as Vilgax starts his endgame with the powers of Diagon! Can they stop him with the help of their freinds or is all lost? Ben/Julie Gen/Yuki IN NEED OF BETA READING
1. That's how it started! I cannot do!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 nor Fourze as they're the propriety of their respective owners. While the Shin-chan Switch is used in this story Shin himself does not appear here. Shin-Chan is the properly of Futabasha**

**AN**: This takes place between UF and Omniverse for Ben 10 and just after 32 of Fourze

Clash of the Two Heroes Chapter 1: That's how it started! I can not do!

_The Orangerie Riveria, 9:33 PM..._

It was late at night as Ben Tennyson was talking with his girlfriend Julie Yamamoto about what happened earlier in the month at a somewhat fancy restaurant. A lot happened during that timeframe with Ben gaining the true Omnitrix and defeating Diagon, but the most important thing to Julie was Ben had somewhat matured ever since that fateful day when he thought Echo Echo would solve everything. Of course Ben's plan failed spectacularly and ever since that day Juile wondered if Ben would ever consider growing up just a little bit. That night when Vilgax was taken away and he gave up the power of Diagon she was the happiest girl in the world. But there was still some lingering doubt in her mind and if it didn't get out now it would stay in there in fester.

"Ben do you ever stop to think how your actions affect others around you? You were a total brat for a while before the Flame Keepers started their endgame and I was wondering if you put any thought into how you were acting before?" she inquired, a brow raised not of judgment, but of concern. Ben was not the most popular boy in Bellwood, as she's heard talks about a task force meant to detain or worse, kill Ben should he become more than the little town can tolerate. Ben was not a bad boy by nature, but his ego could run wild if not reigned in.

"To be honest I kinda don't do well with fame all that well. Having people harangue me all the time as well as all my Plumber duties was seriously getting to me. That's why I was acting like a brat. I let my fame go to my head even after what happened before with Vilgax gaining the Prototype Omnitrix and being forced to sacrifice it. I guess getting the Ultimatrix gave me a huge power trip. I'm sorry I was so horrible to you and the others" As he said this he hung his head down in shame. It wasn't easy coming to terms with the fact that he was in Julie's words a brat.

Julie was in a sense his whole world. Sure he loved going all over the universe, learning about how different aliens did things and trying all the cool new foods they had (though his grandpa's cooking still frightened him), but he loved just being with the girl of his dreams. She was kind and understanding, plus great at sports and loved to spend time with Ben doing just about anything. She had a notable dark side to her, as she was overly competitive and easily enraged at times. But she was a great person at heart and Ben loved her, as did she. It was her nature as a Aries, Ben being Scorpio. Their natures complemented each other and helped to smooth out their faults.

"You really scared me with how you acted Ben. My dad doesn't really like you all that much and when you did...well that thing with Echo Echo I was so worried that you weren't taking our relationship seriously. That I was mistaken in thinking you were the boy I thought you were. That my dad was right about you all along" She was close to tears at this point. Ben hated to see her like this. He fought hard to be a better boyfriend after Baz-el showed his true colors and tried to sell Ship, their pet and his own son, but it had not been easy. He wasn't going to let it go pear shaped ,not after George gave his life for everyone on Earth and beyond.

"Juile, you're the best part of my life. Sure my alien tech makes me a hero but it's people like you that make me human. I lost you once to my ego problems and having faced the prospect of living the rest of my life knowing I could have done better by you was too much for me" He then picked up her chin gently and stared into her chocolate brown eyes. " I care too much about you to let my darkside take over my life and ruin everything I did. I know what I've done if unforgivable, but I hope you'll willing to give me another chance."

"Of course! You're the best part of my life too!" Juile then kissed him deeply and with great joy on both their parts. "But with all the things you've done to your friends do you ever worry about someone finding out all the things you did and hunting you down for them?"

Ben had to think about this. Paradox had shown him that there were other universes out there and as Eon has proven something or someone can come over and attack Bellwood or worse the people Ben cared for. He did a lot of terrible things to the friends he so deeply cared about, Gwen and Kevin chief among them. "Of course I'm worried. Karma's going to hit me and hard sooner or later. I just hope I can make things right and whoever it is that comes for me I can make things right by them." She then gave him a smile of true understanding and nodded her approval at what Ben had said. Besides with the True Omnitrix what could stop Ben now?

_Meanwhile, in another universe..._

Things weren't going as smoothly as Gentaro and JK would like. Chuta Ohsugi, their teacher and Academic adviser was not pleased with their grades as of late. "The both of you are failing American History and your grades are not looking so good all over the board. I know Gamou-san wants you to express yourselves fully but you must also put more work into your studies. That's why you weren't able to go with Kengo, Yuki, Tomoko and Ryusei on the fieldtrip to the botanical gardens. You both need to do a makeup test on a American hero or you're going to fail this course" he growled, snapping his suspenders to drive his point home.

"Take it easy teach" Gentaro told him. "It's not that we don't want to study, it's just that it's hard to when my friends are in trouble. You know the Zodiarts are attacking a lot lately and those commanders of theirs are planning something big." Gentaro was one who always said what was on his mind and was never at a loss to state his opinions on matters. Unlike the other students, who wore a blue jacket with red ties for boys and red bows for girls, he wore a outfit that made him look like a yankee, but he was one of the friendliest people to even set foot on Earth. This quality made his perfect to use the Fourze system, a suit of armor designed for space travel and if it was needed, combat as well. The more friends the user had the powerful it became and Gentaro was friends with just about everyone at school, save a few others, but we'll get to those next chapter.

Besides you're our friend now right? Surely you can give us a small break, right?" JK asked sheeply. It wasn't easy for him to focus on his schoolwork and having a total hottie like Haruka Utsugi as a teacher didn't help matters much. He'd spend a good amount of time watching her practicing her kickboxing even though the other club members told him otherwise. He was always one to gather new info and was fashionable, but he's a bit of coward. Also he was a good friend too, but he loved looking at the ladies at school and who could blame him? He's young and the girls and female teachers are total babes!

"While I may be your friend I'm your teacher first and foremost. I want you both to go out into the world with the skills needed to make it out there. I don't want you both to be freeters as that'll look bad on the school" Mr Ohsugi told them sternly as he snapped his suspenders again.. "But as luck would have it the hero picked out for the both of you is a personal favorite of mine: Ben 10!"

The two teenagers gave him a blank look as they had no idea who this person was. Mr Ohsugi was not surprised by this at all and pulled out two DVDs of Ultimate Alien."Now we're going to watch these all the way though and when we're done I want a good sized report on him. There must be as least three pages of good info on Ben 10. Now then shall we begin?" With that out of the way he turned on the TV in the Rabbit Hatch and popped in the first one.

'He seems really into this Ben person. I will see if he would make a good friend by how this will play out. It may help in my goal of making friends with everyone in school' Gentaro thought to himself.

_A few minutes later..._

Of course things are never that simple indeed. Things started out badly when the intro song had just finished and Gentaro wasn't happy about how brief it was."That wasn't a theme song at all! It was just a teaser and it only showed that this Ben person has a monstrous ego problem!" he bellowed unhappily. Chuta angrily shushed him to be quiet and watch but Gentaro never stays quiet for long. Before long the boy who was also Kamen Rider Fourze had reached a breaking point and a moment in his life he'd never thought possible before now: there was someone he didn't want to be friends with at all. He was appalled by how this 'hero' acted towards his friends. When the viewings were over with Mr Uhsugi gave them until Monday to do their reports. Gentaro accepted this begrudgingly while JK was unhappy that he had difficult homework to do while the other Kamen Rider Club members where having a good time.

_Later that night in the Rabbit Hatch..._

Gentaro was fishing around for the Shin-Chan Switch, a device that allows travel to other dimensions.. He swore never to use that Switch again after Shin-Chan proved to be a... unsatisfactory guest. But this was a matter of pride to the boy with the pompadour and what this Switch has proven before was it allowed travel to other dimensions. But he knew it took up the Square slot in the Fourze Driver and he wanted to hit Ben with everything he has on hand. JK was nervous about going to another dimension but he also wanted Gentaro to be safe. Pulling in the device in the Square slot and then inserting the Shin-Chan Switch in, he was unsure if he really wanted to do this.

"My friends are the most important thing in my life. Just hearing about what this Ben did is unforgivable to me" he told JK firmly but politely. "I must make him see the error of his ways, ever if it's the last thing I do."

JK sighed heavily. Once Gentaro made his mind up about something he was going to follow it though until the bitter end. But this wasn't some random Zodiarts they were going up against. From what they saw from Mr. Ohsugi's DVDs Ben was a powerhouse with a good numbers of alien forms to cycle though. But if Fourze could win then dealing with Zodiarts would a picnic compared to what they were thinking of doing right now.

Leaving a note for the others telling them they were just 'out' they then powered up the Shin-Chan Switch, taking the time to store its power in a refillable Switch, should the Kamen Rider Club need to call them while they were on their little 'business trip, and without a second thought leapt though the portal into the universe that Ben called home.

_A minute later..._

Fourze and JK crashed into a dumper and to Genataro's fury it was filled with Ben 10 cups ( as it turned out the process used to make them made them unintencial poisonous to human) and jumped out of there, screaming in utter rage. JK rolled out and followed his friend, unsure where they were going, but someone was kind enough to give the two directions to Ben's house. With that little mishap out of the way, Fourze powered down and the two boys walked to where Ben lived, Gen ready to beat the ever living crap out of the Omnitrix weilder...


	2. Vilgax Rising!

**Disclaimer: All characters are property of their respective owners**

**AN: **This fic is also a AU for both universes. I just wanted to get that out of the way. In hindsight I should have put that in Chapter 1. OH well!

_The Null Void..._

He could still feel Diagon's power as if it was only yesterday. To think that Max's grandson, the eternal thorn in his side, denied him the greatest power he would ever know. As Psyphon sat by him he knew if he wanted to get revenge he had to act now.

"Thanks to your efforts I was able to retain a small portion of Diagon's power. To think that the Plumbers feel that the Null Void can hold us, the rightful ruler of Vilgaxia and his loyal aide. Soon I will draw out the last of his energy and teleport to a world that may hold the means to get back at Tennyson."

Holding out his right claw a ball of golden light hummed into existence and reformed into the form the Prototype Omnitrix. Psyphon was stunned to be honest. Not that he could do that with Diagon's dying embers but that he still wanted this device even after all these years. But it had been a long period for the both of them and he wanted to live so he kept his mouth shut for the time being. Clicking it onto his wrist he was pleased to see that he was able to repair it. But it was now mostly black with red highlights and instead of the Plumber peace symbol it had the royal seal of his people. But it still works none the less.

."Master, forgive my asking this but where are we going? Your world is in ruins and Ben is-"

Vilgax silenced Psyphon with a sharp glare."I know what Tennyson can do. But thanks to Diagon I saw a world where the humans were able to summon a wormhole with a power known as 'Cosmic Energy'. That is where we shall go. I know now that the power I had will never be replaced but I can still get revenge."A evil grin formed on his lips and all doubt Psyphon had was gone like that. "If we're done here I'd like to be going. Soon even Azmuth will bow down to me as I am the true ruler of the universe!" Using the last of Diagon's power a portal bled from right under their feet. Vilgax only hoped that he landed somewhere where powerful being were. So he could steal their power and add it to his own!

_Amanogawa High..._

In a secret room know only to a select few Gamou was fuming. The paperwork allowing his students to go to Kyoto didn't go through and as a backup he had to send them somewhere else. He was a encouraging man, always willing to help out people when he was able to. (or if it suited his prepossess.) But thou he is a respected man, he never had friends of his own and ultimately saw the concept as beneath him and when he got enraged enough, even his bravest warriors knew to stay clear of him, should they fall before his wrath.

His rage was enough to awaken Kouhei Hayami's or rather Libra's Supernova, the Eye of Laplace, though Gamou bore no anger towards him or any other Horoscopes. Just seeing him in such a frightening mood was enough to bring it out. When used it allowed him to see who can evolve beyond the normal Zodiart state to become a Horoscope. Will it he found the last of their intended membership: Tojiro Goto for Capricorn, Erin Suda for Aquarius,, Yuta Sugiura for Taurus, Ran Kuroki for Pisces and perhaps most surprising to all four men in the room Yuki Jojima as Gemini.

In a corner Prof. Emoto watched the man he thought was his friend. After he killed Rokuro Utahoshi he later found out that Gamou was not mentally stable. So he started to lead a double life as Tachibana, the creator of the Meteor Driver and the M.B.U.S, but only he knew that. He preferred it that way. That news that the last members were found was unsetting news, made worst by the fact that these were good people. They didn't deserve this cruel fate but he kept silent. It was his role as Virgo, to be always watching, all knowing and ready to deal with anything that threatened Gamou, no matter who it was.

"It seems that the unevolved wish to stop me. Try as they may I will see the Presenters." he boldly declared with a flash of red light from his eyes.

But little did he know that soon two odd shapes were falling directly below him. Wasting no time Kou, his most follower and the Leo Zodiarts transformed into his monster form and got Gamou to safety. When the quartet turned to see what had happened they were in for a shock. In a pile where Gamou's chair was were Vilgax and Psyphon, two of the characters from this "Ben 10" show a few of the staff knew about.

Needless to say Gamou was not pleased at all. With a click of his Horoscope Switch he was the most powerful of all the 12 Horoscopes, the mighty Sagittarius. Drawing his bow mounted on his arm he was about to fire off a barrage of fiery arrows at the two.

"We can explain this my good sir" Psyphon stuttered out trying to calm down the archer. But his words had no effect on him. However when this was happening Emoto turned into Virgo and with some effect was able to get Gamou to calm down. Having done that he turned to the both of them, letting them know what they were able to do:

"You may speak now as allies. But be warned we do not tolerate betrayal nor failure." Virgo stated in his feminine voice. "If you wish to say what you wish to state now is the time to do so."

Vilgax wasted no time in filling them in on what had happened during the last month, with gaining Diagon's power and losing it to Ben to where he was now. He told them he had a vision of 11 members of the Horoscopes following his as their leader to glory and victory!

Gamou was ecstatic! Even since he heard the Voice of the Stars he wanted to go see the Presenters. Rokuro's Fourze System would take too long to finish for his liking so he designed the Zodiart Switches to force evolution in humans so they can survive in a vacuum as well as travel through warp gates without spaceships nor bodily harm. "It seems we got off on the wrong foot my dear Vilgax. But one thing troubles me still. You mentioned only 11 out of the 12 following you. Which would be the one that will not support us in our common goal?"

Without a word Vilgax pointed to the man known as Libra. Koutei's face froze in sheer horror as he knew he had finally outlived his usefulness to them. Having Emoto mindwipe him, Vilgax then send him on his way, never to become a Zodiart again.. Gamou was sad , as Koutei was one of the first members, though his fighting ability was lacking. He was the weakest link in the group so losing him was something he can live with. Kou nodded his silent approval, as he outright hated Libra and seeing him leave once and for all was something he was wanting for some time now.

Soon Vilgax left the room to hunt down the last of the Horoscopes and get them to join.

"Now then, we need to get the others here with us. Vilgax is on his way to find the others but we need the two that are in this 'Dark Nebula' to be here with us now" Psyphon told the remaining three.

Emoto was silently horrified! What plans were running though his dark mind?

_Elsewhere..._

By sheer luck Vilgax found the last members. What a pleasant surprise that all of them were in a assigned group together. Yuki and Erin were gawking at the sights of the garden they were all, Ran was sitting down and writing down notes, Yuta was fighting with Tojiro over, well, everything since Yuta was trying to win over the girl of his dreams, and that meant busting the chops of anyone that didn't fit into her vision for the school. As Tojiro was not one to dress like a non-rocker, he was on his bad side from Day 1.

Vilgax took the time to collect the Aries Switcher and revive him, so getting them all asleep was a snap with his powers!

_A hour later..._

Vilgax and Aries came back with the new members. All of them were shocked to see Sarina and Natsuji, the Switchers for Scorpio and Cancer respectfully, standing there as it nothing had happened.. (Psyphon forced Virgo to bring them back, as they were needed.)

Vilgax filled them in on what was going to happen to them. None of them were happy about this at all.

Erin and Ran were furious about being kidnapped, Tojiro was annoyed about all this, Yuta was displeased and Yuki was in tears.

Vilgax paid them no mind as he ate the greasy seafood he stole to slate his hunger. "It can't be that bad to go into space right? You can be like me, flying around without having to worry about things like the Plumbers bothering you." he said with his mouth full of food. Seeing Ran giving him a death glare he offered her a fish sandwich. But food was the last thing on her mind right now.

"To think that the people I trusted to keep us students safe were the ones that turned Haru-chan into a monster!" she growled. "I wish to have no part in this nonsense.", but as Ran tried to storm out Psyphon blocked her way and shoved her back with the others.

"Oh, no no no, little fish. You stay right here with your friends. We have such great things planed for all of you." Psyphon purred, scaring the captives to wit's end.

"You were one of the best astronauts in the history of Japan! I wish to go into space but with my own skill, not with some silly form that you think I need!" Erin snarled. Looking to her right she could see Yuki was still in a state of shock about all of this. It wasn't helping matters much that Yuta was still too scared to ever say anything in their defense, but she knew Yuki was deeply upset about having her hero be the same person that was hurting their friends.

"Gamou-san, why? I looked up to you. All I ever wanted to do was make my friends happy. I wanted to go into space with them. But even though you think I will go with you, my heart belongs to someone else." It was taking all her willpower to keep from freaking out about this, but Yuki was still upset about all of this. She spent her high school life fighting against these monsters, but the fact that she had to become one of them and a commander no least was unsetting her to no end. Where was Gentaro and JK when she needed them the most? Glomping her Hayabusa doll she tried to fight back tears but she failed to do so. Erin gave her a comforting hug to try and ease her fears but she was scared too.

Tojiro just spat on Vilgax, but he paid it no mind. Sarina angrily lead them all out to the rooftops of the school, a far cry from her friendly false persona she wore during her teaching days, with Virgo, Leo and Sagittarius close behind.

Soon Vilgax and Psyphon were there too. Soon the captives were holding Zodiarts Switches."Is there anything you wish to say before we go on into the great 'unknown'?" Vilgax asked with a hint of malice in his voice.

Though the others were too terrifled to answer, Tojiro was not. "Even though you think you can stop my love of rock, you're mistaken! Rock and roll is a lifestyle! Rock n Roll, yeah!" he proclaimed loudly. Psyphon just shrugged it off as Kou glared at them to transform. Vilgax was then called off to talk with his loyal aide.

"I was able to 'radio' as the humans call it 8 of Ben's strongest enemies. With their aid and the power of these 'Horoscopes', we can achieve both of our goals." Psyphon was quite pleased with what he was able to do while they were in their home universe. The both of them knew this was a gamble but if this works the payoff will be well worth it. Soon everything will fall into place and Ben will die by Vilgax's hand and his alone. Dealing with this 'Fourze' was a sweet bonus.

With twelve button clicks a portal opened up above them all. The power he had retained from Diagon wasn't as good as the full version he had, but it would do for this task. Adding to his troubles the Omnitrix he had only had enough power for one transformation. He had to make it count.

Turning the dial to the form of Way Big, Vilgax then slammed down the device and soon enough he was Way Big or something close to Way Big. 'Hugging' the Warp Gate he focus his power into it, changing its color from purple to peasoup green. Then without warning he turned back into his normal form, the Prototype Omnitrix shutting down. If he was able to find Albedo he would have him fix it, but he was confident he could do it on his own.. It mattered not to him. He was going home with 'friends'. Soon all but Virgo were on their way to the universe Vilgax called home.

Taking one last look at the home he knew Emoto gave a sad sigh of regret. He had failed to keep them safe. He failed the Earth and worse of all he had failed his friend. But soon enough he was on his way too...

What mysteries awaited on the other side? Why must these children suffer? He may never know the answers, but for now he would play along and hope that he could save them.

If hope was there...


	3. Come together now,souls of Space!

**DISCLIAMER: All characters are property of their respective owners. I plan on making no money off on doing this fic.**

Chapter 3:Come together now the two souls of space!

After a short trip back to his universe Vilgax wasted no time in gattering his 'allies' Driscoll, Aggregor, Zombozo, Charmcaster, Argit,Darkstar, Will Harange and Overlord. For the most part they wanted revenge although in the cases of Argit and Will they only wanted to discredit Ben. But time had not been kind to all of them as it had to Ben.

Charmcaster's sanity was now in question now that she knows her father is truly gone for good. Her former boyfriend and I use the term loosely, Darkstar was falling apart now that his body could only handle pure mana. His lips had receded, his once blue eyes were now a milky white and he was balder than he was before with cracks and sores on his ashen grey skin. Overlord's face was gaunter due to his time in prison and his eyes held a look of melancholy due to missing Jennifer, the woman he loved. Driscoll was angry that Sir George, the man he looked up to was dead and that he was a friend to Ben. To think that the founder of the Forever Knights would even think to befriend a alien like Tennyson! It was unheard of to the man now known as the true Forever King. Zombozo was in a state of disrepair too with only one eye left, cybernetic arms and a hole on his ribs that showed his insides. The rest were enraged that this immature boy is considered a hero and that he stopped them from getting their hearts' desires.

So it was quite a shock to them when Vilgax called them to the old docks on Bellwood to discuss the final attack that would leave Ben dead and the universe theirs for the taking. Perhaps even more so when they found out he had gained new allies to aid them in their dark quest and Psyphon was now a part of their group as well.

Vilgax knew from his visions that Kouhei's eye of Laplace would reveal that Vilgax was destined to wield all 12 of the Horoscope powers. Luckily for the former ruler his allies Kou and Gamou was displeased with his performance so it didn't take much to silence him. But now that he was here he wanted to introduce his teammates. Having his guests sit by a old wooden table he cleared his throat and prepared to reveal who he had gained in his final quest for vengeance.

Darkstar was hungrily chewing on a rat to the disgust of Charmcaster, Overlord and Will. Meanwhile there was something about Aggergor that was clicking in Argit's mind and he wanted to get it out now before the big presentation. "Hey there Kevin, didn't think Tennyson would drive you off your rocker so much but it's good to have ya back man! But there's something different about ya. Did you cut your hair?" Aggergor just raised a eyebrow in disbelief. "While you may believe I am the hatchling you know I am far beyond Kevin in ability, boy" he firmly stated to the ratlike alien.

Clicking a spoon against a glass to get the others' attention Vilgax called for the Horoscopes to show themselves to state their names.

Tatsumori was first. Boldly walking up to the group he clicked his Switch and turned into the ramman Zodiarts that allowed him to rule over the student body of Subaruboshi before he was stopped by Fourze. Having been woken up by Vilgax was quite a shock to him but he was willing to overlook it since he wanted revenge as much he did "ARIES!" Suffering a defeat has done nothing to stop his God Complex and if he was victorious, then his ego would run unstopped until his final days.

Yuta was next. He nearly always was strong willed and even if this wasn't what he wanted he would do their bidding for now. But soon he would return to the secret love of his life, Sayaka Mibu. Reluctantly clicking his Switch he mutated into a humanoid bull man with one swollen red eye. As he told the Negative Ten he was now Taurus he slammed his Gu-anna staff into the old planks.

Yuki walked up next. She was very nervous about all this. She was frightened that her friends would reject her for now being a Switcher. She wanted to go home with her family and freinds. But then she thought of Gentaro, the boy that is or as she worried WAS her best friend she boldly turned to Gamou and gave him a piece of her mind about all this. " Gamou-san, you were my hero. I thought you would happy I was saving my fellow students from the Zodiarts. But to find out you were behind all this-" she was getting upset again and couldn't find her nerve right now. Having to see Gamou do his red eye glowing trick was more than a little unsettling to her. Even since she heard a voice from space call out to her she was in love with space. She was always on the lookout for news about space. She even made a plush toy after the Hayabusa satellite to show her love for the universe. But she can get a little to excited about sharing her love for space at times but she was a kind soul who treasures her freinds and will do anything to make them happy, even if there are some who would think of her as only a space otaku. With tears streaming down her face she clicked her Switch and soon mutated into a jester-like form. Sadly saying that she is Gemini now she walked to where Aries and Taurus were standing, hanging her head in shame.

The Switcher of Cancer, Natsuji was next. "heh heh heh. It would seem that I shall deal this Ben a...crushing defeat" Having made his pun he then transformed into a crab man form with a large claw on his arm. " I guess he now has to deal with...Cancer" Gamou was quite pleased to have him back. He wasn't pleased that Libra tricked Virgo into banishing him. He enjoyed the humor that the young man brought to the fold.

Without so much as a word Kou turned into his Leo form. Ever since that day when Gamou found him and saved him from himself he pledged a vow of loyally to the elder Horoscope. That meant he clashed with the old Libra and Virgo, but other than that he was a value to their cause.

Virgo, already transformed was next. Emoto gave a small bow as stated that he was Virgo. He never wanted it to go like this. All the years he spent trying to stop Gamou's plans from the inside, training Ryusei to battle against the evil he helped bring about was all for naught, all because of a fluke. 'Those poor souls are innocents caught into this by the cruelty of fate. If only there were a way to save them. I know I cannot be forgiven for what I've done but perhaps there is hope for them yet' he thought solemnly.

Psyphon placed the Libra Switch by a small box near his feet. He told the Negative Ten he was now the new Libra and sat back down with Vilgax.

It was a dark rumor around the school that Sarina was the Scorpio Switcher, given that neither of them were seen after Meteor's first appearance. But it was still a bit of a shock to learn that the woman they thought was so sweet and kind was a brutal and cruel warrior that believed in Gamou's dogma 100%. Changing into her deep voiced Zodiart form as a scorpion man like being she then whipped about her stinger ponytail, growling at the reluctant group of Switchers.

Gamou was up next. He gave a long speech about how he wanted the 12 Switches to see the Presenter and how he was bringing about the next stage of human evolution. Argit fell asleep near the end of it but when he turned into the monstrous Sagittarius he awoke in a fright. Gamou in this form seemed to be radiating power and it was a little much for the little con artist to take in at first.

Tojiro was up and the change in his personality was honestly upsetting for the other hostages. While he was still the sort of fellow that bears no ill will towards anyone he was now willing to use his powers to force people into liking his music, Morphing into a goatman like form he roars out that he's Capricorn, the musical force of the Horoscopes.

Erin wasn't happy about all of this still but she was trying to see the positives of this. Her new Zodiart form as the Aquarius Horoscope could prove useful in space, given that she could survive in a vacuum in said form. But her Japanese was still rough around the edges but as long as she's stuck like this she may as well learn to improve her skill in the language. Mutating into her blue Amazoian form she cracks her Nectar whip at the sky in a show of power.

Last was Ran and she was angry. Both at her kidnappers for taking her away from the people who showed her how to trust again and truly cared for her and at herself for not being strong enough to save themselves. Thinking of her friend Haru she clicks on her Switch and turns into her Pisces form as a fish woman.

When all that was down Aggregor was the one to speak for the other eight Vilgax brought to see just what their new allies could bring to them with their strange abilities " They are good enough for what we need them for" he grumbled. But the one question that was on Yuki's mind instead of what the other thought of all this was simple: Where was Gentaro? But the poor girl was ordered to go with Aries, Cancer and Scorpio to go after this Ben, whoever he was. As she headed out she thought of just whatever he did to cause such horrible events to happen to her and her freinds.

Ben was watching some goofy romance movie with Julie. He didn't know the title nor what it was truly about but he did not care. Just spending time with her and not worrying about her anger was the best thing he could ever ask for, even moreso than the True Omnitrix resting comfortably on his wrist. It was as good as it gets for Ben. But these moments never last forever as he was about to be reminded. Gentaro charged into his door in pointed at the slayer of Diagon, a look of righteous anger awash on his face. JK leaned in to see what was going on but decided it was for the best that he stayed out of his friend's way. "BEN TENNYSON! I have seen what you've done to the people who think of you as their friend! You use your powers to force them away, you whine about not getting your way and worst of all you brag about even the smallest of your deeds! As a Kamen Rider I can not stand for this! Perpare to lose both this battle and you ego problems!" Julies looked at the enraged man with a look of fear in her eyes as JK got a touchsceen pad to record the battle between Gentaro and Ben. Poor Ben as usual had NO IDEA what was going on and without Gwen and Kevin around to save his bacon he was in deep trouble. 'If only they didn't have to go on that deep space mission right about now.' he bemoaned in his mind.

**Feel free to review this chapter as well as the others! I promise the next ones will have more action to them as that's when the battles start!**


	4. Gemini's love

**Disclaimer: All characters and theme are the property of their respective owners.**

**AN:** Sorry about the first three chapters being a tad slow. This is where things pick up!

Chapter 4: Gemini's love

"Aw man.!Look, I know I'm a jerk. You know that I'm a jerk too. Heck even my girlfriend knows that I'm a jerk! Can't we just leave it at that and let bygones be bygones?" Ben was trying his darnest to avoid having to fight this man who looks like a greaser but so far he's deadset on showing him the error of his ways, as that is what "Kamen Riders" do. He wasn't sure what a Kamen Rider is but if there're anything like this Gentaro fellow then they must be some serious believers in karma and it, as well as Gentaro's attacks, are going to hit him upside the head at long last.

Just before the fistfight could start JK was stunned to see something from the corner of his eye: The Scorpio, Aries and Cancer Zodiarts were here too and where heading their way. Flanking the rear was a new Horoscope that he never saw before, a frightening jester in black and white with red and blue highlights was hanging his head down low as if in shame. He knew it was stupid that they came here because Gen was offended by Ben's antics but if he's willing to pummel a somewhat innocent boy that deal with the more pressing threat then what was he really? "Gentaro-san! Those commanders have shown up and they look rather unhappy about something!" That thankfully got Gen's attention in full as he knew they should be defeated but apparently the head honcho saw it fit to bring them back for something big. As Aries and Cancer attacked the people of Bellwood he knew that he had to take action now.

"Friends of yours" Ben asked unsurely. Judging by how he and JK were acting now these guys were big trouble and he may need help with this. Getting a look that said 'We're allies for now' from the greaser boy he dialed in what he thought was Chromastone as the boy placed four small devices into a cluckly belt. Wacthing with a smirk on his face as he flipped down the four red toggles and pulled the level he was thankfully that his Omnitrixes were never that annoying to use. Gentaro shot him a angry look as he transformed in Kamen Rider Fourze and Ben could not hold in his laughter as his Rider form was to be honest silly to behold.

In his white Base States form Gen tried to pay the green jacketed boy no mind but even as thick skinned as he was something about him just rubbed him the wrong way. Trying to tune out his laughter he placed the Wheel Switch into the Triangle slot and flicked it on.

"WHEEL ON!"

Using the odd device to race towards the four monsters he defected the attacks of Aries and Cancer with the Shield Module and wasted no time in hitting Scorpio with a Rider Punch with the Rocket Module. Powering down all three devices he then crouched down and then raised his arms overhead, happily procliaming "UCHU KITA! Kamen Rider Fourze! Let's settle things man to man!" to the new Horoscope.

Poor Yuki was in a state of total shock. Here Gen was and instead of trying to talk to her he was really to challenge her to a duel. She just wanted to go home but she knew home was so far away. She missed her loving family, as odd as even she knew they were and the good times she had with the boy that right now looked like he wanted to hurt her and badly. As he approached her she saw a green light flash close back and she saw something that made her happy: a alien was coming to where she was. She always loved space ever since she heard the 'Presenter' as Gamou called the voice she heard in her childhood. and getting to see a alien was a dream come true. Yuki couldn't hold in her excitement anymore and although she was a monster now she still wanted to let Gen know how happy she was now.

"Gen-chan, look! A alien is here! A real life alien and he's standing right there! We always wanted to see one and he's not only here but he looks friendly just as we dreamed!" she cheerfully told Gen as she pointed toward where Ben as Diamondhead was standing just nearby. Both boys were stunned by what had just happened, Gen with the news that Yuki was a Horoscope and Ben with the fact she knew he was a alien on sight and didn't try to peg him as a monster as others have done so in the past. Right now the fact that he wasn't Chromastone like he wanted wasn't as pressing a issue as this.

"Friend of yours?" Ben asked Fourze. Fourze shot him a dirty glare as if Ben had always known. He knew she was his friend and he knew from the bottom of his heart that Yuki would never willingly join the Horoscopes. Holding her hands with a shocked look he was in total disbelief

"Yuki-chan, what did they do this you?" Fourze sadly asked the being now known as Gemini. Yuki wanted to answer her closest friend but the shame of what she was forced to do kept her silent. Then finally she answered him

"Gentaro, Gamou is the leader of the 12 Apostles. He was looking for the last members to jouney into space with when something calling himself Vilgax came and kidnapped me as well as my group and forcibly made us mutate into Zodiart commanders. You know I would never betray the Kamen Rider Club and you know I love my friends as much as you do Gen-" She was about to go on but Gentaro gave his friend a deep hug. Even if she was different in appearance she was still the Yuki he knew and loved, but he was too shy to admit it to her as well as himself. Diamondhead and Julie were touched by how much they truly cared for one another as JK gave a sad smile toward his freinds.

"If only we were that close" Ben and Julie admitted to themselves openly.

However Cancer was growing impatient with all of this. Knocking Fourze he grabbed the Gemini Zodiarts and held her tightly against himself, paying no mind that he was hurting her.

"It's such a shame for you, isn't it?" he told Fourze sarcastically. "You lost everything that mattered to you, your beliefs, your mission and your woman. While I've have gone from being with the stars to having gone to waist" as he wrapped his more human like arm around her waist. Yuki whimpered in fear as not only has he thrown away him human identify but he was hurting her with a hungry look in his eyes. Neither she nor Gen knew what to do but Ben knew what to do. Grabbing Natsuji's pincher claw he was about to give him a piece of his mind.

"Listen here buster, I may be one of the people you'd think would know how to treat a lady but you are no gentleman. Now let her go righ-" Diamondhead was cut off from the pain of Cancer crushing his hand as he laughed evilly at his misfortune. "Oh so that's how you wish to play huh? Well you should keep in mind I'm a old hand at this" Reforming his hand around the claw with his crystal powers he then crushed it without so much as a second thought. As Natsuji howled in pain Diamondhead told him that he warned him but the pain was blocking out the world around him.

The remaining two Horoscopes wasted no time in rushing to Cancer's defense. As Sarina tried to poison Ben but failing to do due to his crystal hide as Aries prepaired to sent Diamondhead to sleep. As Ben started to slow down due to the sands of Aries's staff he knew he had to act fast. Turning the dial to the one form he HOPED would be able to turn the tide he then pressed down on his symbol as the world grew darker and darker still...

"Hpmm. You should have known better than to challenge a god. To think that I had such hopes for you given how much we have heard of you and your-" Aries's ego trip was cut short by the roars of one of Ben's most uncontrollable aliens Rath. He was quite shocked that he was able to counteract his sleeping spell as not even Fourze was immune to it. Before he could recast it Rath grabbed onto his scepter and gave one of his famous speeches.

"LET ME TELL YA SOMETHING ARIES! RATH DOESN'T GO TO BED UNLESS HE WANTS TO! RATH EARNED HIS TEN O'CLOCK BEDTIME AND NO STUPID SHEEP MAN IS GONNA TELL RATH OTHERWISE! UNLESS YOU WANNA DEAL WITH RATH'S MOMMA, BIG MAN!" Aries angrily tried to shake Rath off but he was having no luck with that task. As that was going on Rath dialed up his mom Sandra during her lunch break. "Y'ello?"

Over at her jobsite Sandra was pleased to have Ben talk to her. No matter what form he was he always cared about his family. "What is it you want to talk about sweetie?"

"Some interdimensional sheep man is trying to make Rath go to bed even though Rath don't wanna. Can you tell him that I can wait until ten for my bedtime?"he asked in a softer tone of voice.

"Of course dear" she then waited until Rath gave the phone over to Aries. "Now listen and listen good. My son is a true hero and a loving child. He's earned the right to his bedtime mister and if you think you can take that away from him then you have to deal with me" she proclaimed to him with her angry mom tone. Even a Horoscope knows better than to argue with a angry mother so he meekly told her OK and gave the phone back to Rath.

"We good?" Rath asked the frightened monster. Aries nodded weakly in agreement. Happy that he was seeing things his way Rath crushed his scepter into Cosmic Energy dust. Backing away in fear Aries ran to where Scorpio and Cancer were. "LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN ELSE ARIES! NEXT TIME YOU PULL SOMETHIN LIKE THAT I JUST USE MY SIRIUS BACKBREAKER! IT'S SIRIUS THE STAR NOT SERIOUS!"

By now knowing that they can't deal with Ben one on one all three charged at Ben with looks of malice on their faces. Turning back into Diamondhead Ben readied himself for their onslaught. As they were battling Gen and Yuki were unsure about something important.

"Gen do you remember the promise we made before you moved?" Yuki always remembered that day as she wanted him to go into space with her when they were grown up. But time had not been kind to that memory. He sadly shook his head and said" I wish I could recall what it was you said. But I can't think of what it was you wanted Yuki-chan"

That was the breaking point for the girl. It was her most treasured moment with him and she was livid that he forgot it like it was nothing at all. Fuming at the boy she knew as her friend she was about to burst with anger. "You don't remember that at all? I thought you were my friend! I thought that meant more to you than that!" she howled at the Rider. "I HATE YOU GENTARO! YOU ARE NOT THE MAN YOU SAY YOU ARE!" She then cupped her hands over her mouth, shocked that she said that and to her best friend too. Soon dark energy flared from under her and she felt something come out of her mind. Soon she was back to being human again and a cloud of Cosmic Energy was where she was standing moments before when it reformed into the Gemini form. "W-Wh-What's going on? How is this happening? Who are you?" she asked with fear in her voice.

The monster turned it hear over to where she was and answers "I am the darkness of your mind. You are the light that is the truth of what you are. The light of Gemini along with your rage gave me true form and freed you from you destined fate as a Horoscope. But soon your light shall fade and I will be the one to shine brightly in the sun with Gamou-sama" Reaching over to try and choke Yuki to death Gemini was blocked by a crystal wall brought up by Diamondhead, a look of worry awash on his face. Fighting off the three other monsters Ben ran to where the wall was with Fourze, JK and Yuki were behind. Glaring at the white spacesuited boy he was about to let him know just what he was thinking right now

"I thought I was the bad friend! I may do stupid things from time to time but I would never run off half cocked on some ego trip due to being upset with how someone was acting! I think you're the bad friend here buddy boy!" Fourze was shocked by Ben's words but he knew they rang as true as the mourning bells. Turning to where Yuki was he tried to apologize to her but she wanted nothing to do with him right now. Seeing that tears were in her eyes he tried to remember what it was that she treasured so deeply. Just then it came flooding back. The promise that he would go with her to space. He hoped that what he was about to say would be enough to make things right.

"Do you still have the ticket you made for me? Because I still want to go with you, no matter where you wish to head off to. Because you're my friend and I want to be a part of your life. I'm sorry that I wasn't there to save you and I know I can never be forgiven for that. But if you're willing to give me another chance then I promise I will try to make things right by you" His throat was dry and he was sweating up a storm in his Base States suit as he thought she would be mad at him forever. But to his surprise she gave him a hug and gave him a nod that told him she forgave him. Diamondhead, JK and Julie nodded their approval as well. With that cleared up he took out the Rocket Switch and pulled in Cosmic into the Circle slot. Turning it on all the other 40 Switched formed armor around him. Soon he was the electric blue Cosmic States. Aries was not happy to see the form that defeated him again. Panicking he mutated into his Supernova form and fired off balls of energy at him but Ben blocked them with Diamondhead's arms. Soon Gemini used her Supernova too and made a clone to fight against the group as the both of them ran towards them. Ben shot crystal shards at the three, destroying the Gemini clone and damaging the others, giving Fourze time to set up the Cosmic States Limit Break. A warp gate formed behind the two as Fourze rushed over with his hover pack, sending the two Horoscopes into space. As Aries and Gemini flailed about Gentaro unplugged and replugged the Cosmic Switch into the **Barizun Sword** and charged right at the two of them, the hits he landed ringing true. Soon both of them blew up, Gemini fading to dust and Aries back to being human again. Taking him back with him to Ben's Earh Gen powered down and walked over to where Yuki was. "We're still friends right?" ?He was still worried that she was mad at him about all of this.

"You'll always be my friend Gen-chan. But it's going to take some time to get over this." Yuki then gave a handshake to cement their deeper understanding of their faults." You really scared me back there, leaving us so suddenly and there not knowing about our promise. I know you treasure your friends but I wasn't sure you still treasured me" As she told him this she was crying, tears streaming down her face. Gen knew he had a lot to make up for, with Ben as well as JK and Yuki. Giving her a deep hug he began to cry too. Ben and Julie then saw themselves in the pair and they knew without saying anything to anyone that they had to make this right. They cannot let this friendship die like they did like theirs nearly did.

It was a long walk back for Sarina and Nasuji but they made it back to the old where house that the others were using as their base. They were thankfull that no one paid attention to them as they retreated but they weren't too pleased about what was going to happen. Vilgax wasn't going to happy about this setback but Gamou's rage was even more upsetting to face to them. Thankfully Gamou was understanding about their problems with Ben as well as Fourze. Giving them a stern but polite talking too they bowed their thanks and went over to where the others were. No, he would never be upset with his Horoscopes as they meant something to him...for now at least. No, his anger was directed at Vilgax and his shaky plan. He gave up seeing the Presenters for this, a childish plan of revenge? He would give him the benefit of the doubt for now but if things don't start shaping up soon then even the ruler of Vilgaxia would know the rage of Sagittarius. He would not let this fool deny him his dreams, even if he was the one to give him all 12 of his destined group. But he has lost the Gemini that was a part of Yuki for so long. He loved her like a daughter and wasn sad that she would not be able to go with him. Losing Aries to the 'Plumbers' was not as back a setback as he feared. Tatsumori has talent but he was sorely lacking in power. He can think about his weakness in the 'Null Void' forever. His patience for all of this was coming to an end. He loved that his students are expressing themselves and allowing him to gain the people he needed for what he wanted to do, but if they were unable to keep up with what he wanted them to do then they can die with the rest of them. In a corner Emoto looked on with a look of worry on his face. Just how far was Gamou willing to go with this madness?

**As always feel free to let me know how's I'm doing so far in the reviews! Next time we deal with the fallout of Yuki's time as Gemini as well as Gen's feeling about Ben!**


	5. Aftermath of the two souls

**DISCLAIMER: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners**

**Chapter 5: Aftermath of the souls**

It was late at night and all Ben wanted to do was sleep. But the thoughts he was having were keeping him up. He was worried about how Gen and Yuki were holding up in this world that wasn't theirs. Thankfully while Max was offworld with Gwen and Kevin helping to train the Plumber that Ben would later know as Rook he was still able to signal the parents of Ben, Gwen and Kevin and set up a meet of sorts to let everyone fill each other in on what was going on. Ben was stunned that they were other universes than he was only considered a fictional character in. Given that he was recovering from the earlier battle this was somewhat a shock to him. But at least Ms Leven was willing to rent out some old rooms for the 'guests'. Ben's parents would have loved to help on but their house isn't big enough for what the other worlders needed and Gwen's parents aren't overly fond of anything alien related so they politely declined. While he wanted to get some sleep he just couldn't leave them alone. Trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes but failing to do so he walked over to where Yuki would be staying tonight.

In all honestly Yuki was feeling homesick. The contrast grass green and dull colors of the Tennyson household was nothing like the cheery rainbow of color that her home was. She missed how her family would dress up for dinners from other cultures and how much love they gave to her as well as others around them. Making matters worse was the fact that she was having nightmares about a 'Dark Yuki' in a creepy mask trying to take over her life and she was powerless to stop it. Looking over to where Gentaro was sleeping on the floor, a look of deep regret on his slumbering form she couldn't help but wonder how he would feel about her. Gently waking him she waited until he was fully awake so she can get this thing off her chest.

"Gentaro, don't you still think of me as your friend? I'm glad that you remembered our promise together but do you think any differently of me now that I'm a Switcher? I didn't want to but Gamou forced me to because a Horoscope. How will the other react about this? It wouldn't be any good for the club to have a Zodiart commander as the chairman, right?" She was getting very upset about what had happened during the short timeframe and she was worried that he would reject her right out there. To her pleasant surprise he drew her into a deep hug and rocked her gently back and forth.

"Of course you'll always be my friend Yuki-chan! No matter what happens I still want to befreind everyone in school! I should have been there for you and the others but instead I was blinded by my dislike over some boy with odd powers! I LET MY ANGER BLIND ME TO WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE! I FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN MY LIFE BECAUSE I WANTED TO PUNISH SOMEONE WHO WAS NOT ACTING LIKE HE CARED ABOUT HIS FREINDS! BUT I WAS THE ONE AT FAULT TODAY! I ENDANGERED JK AND EVERYONE ELSE DUE TO HOW I ACTED TODAY! **I LET THE HOROSCOPES HURT PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT AND WORSE OF ALL THEY TRIED TO MAKE YOU SOMETHING I KNOW YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE SWEET AND KIND YUKI-CHAN! PLUS YOU'RE SMARTER THAN YOU GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT FOR SINCE YOU HELPED KENGO MAKE THE ASTRO SWITCHES I USED SO CARELESSLY TODAY! I FAILED YOU AND EVERYTHING I HOLD DEAR FOR WHAT?! FOOLISH PRIDE ABOUT HOW MUCH BETTER I AM THAT SOMEONE ELSE BUT IN THE END HE WAS THE BETTER MAN!**" Having let out of that emotion Gentaro finally broke down and cried up a storm. He messed up a lot today and he knew it from the bottom of his big heart. Yuki returned his hug back to him as he looked at her gratefully for doing so. Seeing him smile made this world seem less scary to Yuki and she gave him a smile that showed him that she was fine.

"Thank you Gen-chan. For everything you did for me and the Kamen Rider Club. I don't know what will happen tomorrow but I'm not afraid of the future anymore. I will face it head-on as you taught me. After all if I did anything less than that how can I call myself your best friend?" Giving off a small chuckle she was happy to see that Gen agreed with her by giving her his biggest smile. As they looked into their eyes both of them wondered if perhaps there was something more between them. Before they could act on these feelings Ben walked in on them, a look of annoyance on his tired face.

"Geez Gen, I think you're officially louder than Trumbipulor and given how loud he is that's saying a lot about you, dude. I'm clad you both were able to fix thing between you but can you dial it back a tad? You might be loud enough to wake the dead AND the living."

Gen blushed a little bit since he was still holding on to Yuki. Her smell was quite pleasing to him as she was always pretty to him, even if she never saw herself like that. Having Ben pop up when he was like this was embarrassing to be honest. Still he had to save face since he was the one who helped the most with saving Yuki as well as getting Tatsumori to a hospital. Perhaps he wasn't the jerk he was before."I should thank you for helping me save Yuki-chan but more importantly I need to say I'm sorry about barging into your world and wishing to attack you with no real cause."

Ben was pleased to hear that coming from him. Still there was something else that he needed to address to Gen and Yuki. It couldn't wait until morning so JK would have to hear what he was about to say in the meantime." I want to say I'm sorry too. I have been a super jerk to everyone but I hurt Julie the most with how I acted. Now I have to worry that her dad won't let me see her again. Plus I'm still learning how to use this new Omnitrix I got from Azmuth but so far I had little luck with figuring this watch out. But the second thing I wanted to ask you about is this: Why are you so loud all the time? Can't you use a indoor voice like normal people do?"

Gentaro got up and patted Ben's shoulder to steady himself. " I think friends shouldn't hold in their feelings as that can hurt them in the long run. So I always state what's on the mind so I can live without regrets. Also Kamen Riders are the heroes of Japan in my world. We need to be loud to give the people hope and strike fear into the hearts of evil kaijin and those who would wish to harm the innocent" Ben gave a small "Uh-huh" to show that while he didn't like his loud voice he did appreciate what he and the other Kamen Rider were doing. Soon both boys gave each other thumbs up with Yuki happily cheering them on. They weren't friends just yet but it was the start of a beautiful friendship between all of them. JK smiled as well with the good news he overheard.

When it was morning Ben had to help out his houseguests as his American kitchen was lacking in ingredients Gentaro, Yuki and JK were used too. The three of them weren't too happy about having stale Sumo Slammer cereal but it was better than nothing. While they were having breakfast Ms Leven and Julie walked in to talk about something that will help them in the longrun.

"I know that things are rough for you right now so I'm letting you borrow my son's car so you can get around town easily. Hopefully one of you can drive as I can't let you use Kevin's car if you don't have a license to operate a motor vehicle" Gentaro was luckily that his grandfather taught him how to drive a car as he showed his license to Ms Leven to her approval." I'm glad to see that. But I going to have to ask for a small favor. Can you repaint the car for me? I would never say this to my son's face but I've always hated that grass green he likes so much." When all four teenagers walked outside they saw that Kevin's muscle car had seen better days with its paint as it starting to peel away. After giving it some thought Gen and Yuki started to brainstorm ideas on how to give Kevin's car new life in paint. It took all of a minute to come up with a idea that JK loved as much as they did.

After about a hour or so Kevin's car was fully painted with a whole new color scheme and a new personality that fitted better with the Kamen Rider Club members No longer was it grass green with black stripes. Now it was lavender with rainbow stripes on the sides with chibi faces of Gentaro, Yuki, Kengo, Miu, JK, Shun, Tomoko and Ryusei on the rainbows. The wheelwell covers were now painted in rainbow chrome and the hood of the car was now white with a lavender star in the middle. Ben loved the new look as Kevin may be a genius with tech but his fashion sense was awful like you would not believe. Knowing he was courting death by doing this he sent pictures of his car's new identity to his computer on the Rust Bucket 3, his personal starship. Looking inside the repainted car he saw that the dark green interior was redone with a pink and white space theme. With the new look getting rave reviews from the five teenagers Gentaro, Ben, Yuki, Julie and JK took a picture of themselves with Kevin's happier looking car. 'I think we're going to be such good friends someday' Ben and Gen thought to themselves.

**After the drama bomb that was the last chapter I wanted to lighten the mood a little bit with this update. Let me know what you think in the review section and also how Kevin will react when he sees what the KRC did to his ride!**


	6. Water, water everywhere

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are Property of their respective owners**

Chapter 6: Water, water everywhere...

_Two hours earlier..._

Vilgax knew that water was important to most species and humans were no exception to that rule. Having mapped out all of Bellwood during his few visits he knew where everything was, but most importantly where the water purification system was. So far his plan was working out as well as he expected it to go. Having lost Yuki and Tatsumori was unfortunate but he still had the other Horoscopes to flank his oddball group. Plus he now had complete access to the Libra, Aries and Gemini Switches so things are looking better than they were before. After a overly long and somewhat odd talk with Gamou about the powers of Aquarius and Pisces the idea stuck him like thunder. Waiting until early morning he woke up Ran and Erin. Needless to say getting woken up rudely by the very same being that kidnapped them was not welcome by the fiery tempered girls.

"You have some nerve to barge in on us like this. Even if I may be a Horoscope I consider myself a member of the Kamen Rider Club first and foremost. So if you have anything you wish to say make it fast" Ran grumbled at the former ruler. Vilgax gave her a glare that would have shook lesser warriors to their very core. But Ran was used to dealing with people bigger and meaner than her. She loved Haru like a little brother and when she thought he was in trouble she would rush to his defense with her Aikido skills and great strength. So it was a big surprise that she found out that he was starting to resent her for always feeling like he needed to be saved. Thankfully Gentaro was able to clear that up and restored her faith in older students. It was with great shame that she realized that she was starting to love what the Switch was making her be and it make her sick to her very core. Still Ran was pleased that Vilgax blinked first. Giving herself a small smile for a job well done she thought things would start to look up. That ended as soon as it began when Vilgax grabbed her and slammed her against a wall, causing her to mew in pain. But she would not back down now. "What do you want us to do now, monster? When will out torment end and we can be free from your insanity?" she demanded, her voice hoarse from the pain she was in.

"It's something simple really. I need you and 'Erin-chan' to go over to where Bellwood gets its water purified and contaminate all the water there with your Cosmic Energy powers. Two things will happen next, either the fools will drink it and become my slaves or they will hold out and I can demand whatever I want from them. It's win-win either way for me." Both Ran and Erin were a bit scared at what he was planning. He bragged about how his coming back from their dimension caused the windows of time to 'cloud up', keeping Paradox busy with fixing the damage he caused, so getting help from him was a no-go. Erin walked over to where a monitor showing their target was displaying that there was someone else there. He looked like a monster of a man, with bright red skin, four arms and yellow eyes with no pupils. Normally Erin welcomed any and all challenges as she wanted to be a astronaut when she was older but this was something that was a little too much for the strong willed girl.

"Just what are we going to do about that?!" she snapped at Vilgax, worried that this man or however close he was to being a man would do to either of them should he catch them. While she was smart and focused on all things related to space she was notorious for lacking a sense of humor, making it hard to get along with anyone that seemed like they were too happy-go lucky for their own good. This character trait caused some fiction with her over how cheerful Yuki was over space as she felt the girl was not focused about the work needed to make her dreams of space travel a reality. But shortly before they were caught Yuki was able to impress her with all the knowledge she had about space and soon after they were friends. But Erin was not one to relax and have fun so easily and she herself knew that painfully well. For what seemed like forever she waited for Vilgax to give a response but before a minute had passed he told her everything about this new factor.

"This is Manny Armstrong, a Plumber in training. He's half Tetramand so his powers aren't as strong as a full breed. Plus he's pretty stupid and headstrong so I highly doubt he'll give you that much trouble." Opening a portal to where he wanted them to go he forcibly shoved them both in and as soon as they were over to where he wanted them shut the portal down suddenly, leaving them on their own. Mutating into their Zodiart forms they thought this would be easy, that Manny was the fool Vilgax said he was.

_Shortly before Ben and the others arrived at the water station._

Manny knew things would never be the same again. His sister was still grieving the lost of her brother and he knew he missed him too. But he had a job to do and that would never change no matter what happened. Plus the Plumbers promised him a fancy fish dinner just for doing this simple task as some aliens like to attack whatever they feel would harm those they think are lesser species so there's always something to do. The only thing he was wondering about right now is just what kind of fish he'd like to eat. As if by fate he saw the Pisces Zodiart guarding the Aquarius Zodiart as she was flooding one of the water reservoirs with odd water coming out of her...shoulder pads? Manny didn't know that they were Zodiarts or that they were really innocent humans forced into doing the deeds of Vilgax. All he saw were two people contaminating the water of Bellwood with something odd but what was really interesting to him was the Pisces Zodiart. Now he knew what he wanted for dinner! Drawing out his laser pistols he fired at the two of them, causing a scene.

_NOW_

Manny didn't care that the fish monster was underwater right now. He thought he can fish it out with some bait so he attached a worm to a hook, threw out his line into the water, placed a straw hat on his head and sat down. He would just fish it out and he did not care how long that took him. He was in the first hour of doing this when Ben drove by and saw him. Quickly parking he then ran out with some people he never saw before in his life. But still Ben was his friend so he gave him a hearty greeting.

"Yo man! I was wondering when you'd show up. Some weird chick was doing something to the water station with her fish pet so I tried to kick their butts. But then the fish turned into water and leapt right into the nearby lake. So I've been trying to catch it so I can gut it and scale it then bread it, fry it and eat it! Mmm-mmm good!" Ben raised a eyebrow as he knew from what Gen, JK and Yuki told him that that wasn't really a fish at all.

Underwater Ran couldn't help but be worried about Manny's plans for her. She wanted to go up, turn back into human form and tell him she was not a fish. But to be honest he scared the living daylights out of her. Ran was worried that if he caught her then she would never see her friends again. It wasn't helping matters that he wanted her to eat a worm. Seeing it as it drowned Ran felt sick to her stomach. If she was hungry before she wouldn't be now. The only thing giving her comfort now was the fact Erin was hiding, waiting for the moment to strike.

Sneaking up on Ben Erin prepped her shoulder vases to spray Ben so he would be a slave to Vilgax. She hated the very idea of it but she had no choice in the matters. Unfortunately for her the Aquarius Horoscope form casts a unusual shadow and it was over Ben right now. Knowing her cover is blown she unleashed two blasts of Cosmic Energy water at him while shouting that she was "_Fuketsu"_

It may have been her shoddy Japanese or her oddly shaped shadow. Perhaps it was the blue water that was rushing just behind him. But before it could hit he already knew what to do. Powering on the Omnitrix he selected Water Hazard and was able to turn into him with no incident. Quickly turning around he opened up the ports on his hands and absorbed Erin's water attack to her shock. "Thank you for your concern about my hygiene but I already showered today." he joked around with her.

"Pani?" Erin was unsure she could take on one weird alien. Having two of them and Gentaro, the boy also known as Fourze to deal with? That was too much even for her. Knowing that the longer this goes on the worse it will end for her she leapt down and started lashing at Ben with her Neater whip, trying to break his armor shell. While it wasn't hurting Ben all that much he was still trying to get her to stop but he was having no such luck with that.

Gentaro knew Ben needed help. He may not be someone he likes but he's still a hero and Kamen Riders always help out those who fight for justice. Summoning the Fourze Driver he placed the Rocket, Launcher, Drill and Radar Switches into their respective slots. Flipping down the red Transswitches and pulling the lever he then raised her arm up as the final countdown started.

"**THREE!"**

**"TWO!'**

**"ONE!"**

As the stream died down Gen was now in his Fourze form. He looked back and saw that Yuki was as excited about this as he was. Both of them crouched down and then rose back up with arms held up high, hands balled into fists are they proclaimed the thing they knew deep in their hearts.

"Uchuu Kita!"

Happy that Yuki was herself again Fourze then pointed to Aquarius and declared this to her

"Kamen Rider Fourze! Let's settle this one on one!"

Yuki and JK were happily jumping up and down, cheering on their friend to save their friend from the form she was trapped in. Water Hazard was just staring blankly as the odd scene, having no idea what was going on right now. Giving up on trying to understand right now he just shrugged his shoulders and started the battle in earnest. Blocking the whip from hitting Fourze he then sprayed her with a sharp jet of water from his palm. Shaking it off Erin made the Neater whip wrap around Ben's leg and yanked it, causing him to fall down in a heap. Rushing to Ben's defense Fourze did a spinkick that Erin was able to duck under as she punched him in the chest. Backstepping away to get his bearings back both he and Ben ganged up on her. The sounds of battle were enough to get Ran out of the water and into Erin's side. The first year sprayed water out at Ben and Gen, grossing out the former and just knocking away the latter. Making a trident to aid her in combat Ran slashed at Water Hazard, damaging his organic armor. Now knowing that this form would not work on her Ben switched to Ripjaws so he can regain the upper hand in this fight. Trying to bite her weapon in half Ran caught his open mouth and held it there. So far they were at a stalemate.

The third year now known as Aquarius was now hovering over the water and attacking with blobs of water. Gentaro was at a total loss to what do about this. Luckily Yuki was able to put in some input about what to do. "Gen-chan use the Board Switch to cover the distance between the two of you!" Thanking her for helping him he placed said Switch into the Triangle slot and turned it on.

"Board ON"

With the Board Module ready for action Fourze leapt into the water and started to surf his way over to where Erin was now. But her attacks were making it harder and harder to get over there and Ben had his hands full with dealing with the Pisces Horoscope. 'I wish Kengo were here now. I'm always blanking out about which Switches to use.' However JK and Yuki were watching the battle and were able to come up with a idea.

"Gentaro-san! Try the Stealth and Flash Modules to gain some ground!" JK shouted over the exploding water blasts. Just when Gen was able to place the Switches into their respective slot it seemed that a water blast struck him down. Holding her hands over her mouth in horror Yuki was almost sure that what she really wanted Gen to know would remain unknown to him forever as JK looked on with utter shock. Erin was sad too as she wanted to be his friend too but that doesn't seem to be happening now. Cursing herself for being so weak as to let a monster take control of her destiny, she wondered if she could ever be forgiven for what she was forced into doing.

But all their fears were put to rest when a bright light shined right into Erin's face, temporality blinding her. Gentaro had managed to set up the Switches after all. Jumping up he then slammed the Board Module into Aquarius, knocking them both into the water. While Erin was struggling to get her bearings Fourze was already on his game, swimming around with the Screw Module on his leg. He had only one shot at this and he knew he had to make it count. Placing the Elec Switch into the Circle slot he then turned it on.

"Elec ON"

Now as Elec States he prepped up a special Limit Break for this occasion. Setting up the Screw Switch for the finishing attack he then placed the Elec Switch into Billy the Rod as he plugged the cord into its left socket he then went over to where Aquarius was.

"Elec ON"

"Screw ON"

_"Limit Break!"_

"RIDER 10 BILLION VOLT SPIRAL!" He then rushed over to her while spinning, electricity crackling around him as Billy the Rod struck true right in Erin's stomach. Unable to support her Zodiart form anymore Erin canceled her transformation as she fell unconscious. Ignoring the Aquarius Switch Fourze replaced the Rocket Switch into its slot and used the Rocket Module to get Erin and himself out of the lake.

Back on land Ben as Ripjaws was having no luck at all in getting free from Pisces's grip. By now he was worried that she would kill him right there and now and he would be powerless to stop her. Manny however wanted none of that to happen. Grabbing Ran's waist with his lower arms he then leapt high into the air and did a German Suplex on her, negating her transformation. As the Pisces Switch rolled away from her hand and Ben turned back to human form Manny was confused about just what was going on here."Uh Ben, did you know why my fish is trying to hide its form as a cute girl? I doubt it'll be signing that tune once I get its I.D mask off!" he boldly stated as he reached over to where Ran laid, not knowing that Manny still thought of her as his future fish dinner. Ben tried to shout at him that Ran is really human but his mouth was still hurting from eariler. Yuki knew she had to act fast if she wanted to save Ran.

"Manny-san, stop! She's really human! A evil man called Gamou that we thought was our school chairman forced her as well as myself and others to become monsters and come to your world. Ben was able to save me and my friendship with Gen. Look, I'll show you she's really human!" she told him with much fear in her voice as she bent down and gently tugged on her cheeks. Ran at that moment woke up to find Yuki was squeezing her face. Normally she hated when people touched her without her consent and would throw them without a second thought. But given the circumstances right now she was willing to let this side, just this once.

Manny was a little bummed that his 'fish dinner' was really a cute girl but he was happy as a calm that she REALLY was a cute girl, with her friends Yuki and Erin being cute girls too as well! Life was going well for once and Manny knew it. As Erin woke up with Gentaro and JK looking at her with worried faces she then placed their fears to rest. "I- I'm alright now. Barigato for saving me Gentaro-san" she said as the light of the sun shined down on her. While her Japanese was not perfect nobody cared about that at all right now. Ran and Erin were human again. Yuki and Ran sped over to when their friend was and hugged her while crying with happiness."I was so scared that you were going to be that way forever Erin-chan. I'm so glad you're safe now and you-" Yuki wanted to say more but her emotions got the best of her as she cried on Erin's shoulder, much to her slight discomfort. But Erin was thankful that Yuki and Ran cared about her and hugged them right back, tears forming in her eyes as well. JK was happy too but part of his reason was there were three cute girls hugging each other tightly. Thankfully for them Gentaro lead him out of their way so they can reconnect in private, while JK looked back sadly at he wanted to see them some more.

When that was down with and everyone filled each other in about who they were, Ben felt something else in his stomach. Everyone else felt it too as by now it was a little last lunch time and they were hungry. "Now before we head on to lunch I just want to welcome Gentaro, JK, Yuki, Ran and Erin to my circle of friends. Are there any objections to what I just said?" Everyone but Gentaro happily said that they were happy that they were now friends. Gentaro was happy too but he felt it was too soon to call Ben his friend right now. But he still gave Ben a happy nod that told him he was pleased with him making friends with his as he was with Ben's group." OK then who was the front seat on the way to Burger Shack?" It was a innocent question but Ben remembered too late that Manny loved getting the front seat and his car couldn't handle his weight. "Manny no!" But it was too late at Manny called out "Shotgun" and sat down, blowing out his tires and damaging the frame of his car, causing everyone but Ben to winch. Manny gave Ben a apologetic smile but Ben wasn't too pleased with him right now.

_A few minutes later_

As Gentaro, JK, Yuki, Ran and Erin were riding in Ben's car, talking about how happy they were to have each other back Ben and Manny's discussion was of a somewhat less cheerful tone.

"Aw come on man, I said was sorry" Manny pleaded with Ben. But Ben was having none of that right now. As he was towing his car with Lodestar's power he angrily shot out this to the Tetramand:

"I'm not speaking with you right now. Also you do know you'll have to help me with the repairs, you know" he snapped at him with Lodestar's robotic voice, not even bothering to turn his head to said this to Manny.

Manny gave a sad sigh as they continued their walk back to the main town of Bellwood. 'To think I was going to get a fish dinner and now I'm stuck with paying for the damages to Ben's car' he thought sadly to himself. He would have to work on not getting into a car every time someone offered the front seat. But for now he would just stay quiet and be thankful that he was able to help out his new freinds.

**As always let me know what you think in the reviews section!**


	7. Enter the Dark Horoscopes!

**Disclaimer: All characters are property of their respective owners**

**AN:** I'll admit I had no idea what do with the Ben 10 villains at first but now I have a idea! Now in this chapter we will see what fate befalls the Switches of Aries, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius and Pisces!

Chapter 7: Enter the Dark Horoscopes!

Gamou had just about had enough of Vilgax's plan and his utter reluctance to share the details on just what he wanted to do. He would never reach the Presenters if he was going to stick with the somewhat stupid plan of a squid alien and his dress wearing lackey, that's for sure. He was always one to tell people what was on his mind, barring any and all details regarding the Zodiarts and he always was pleasant and supporting to everyone he meets, but Vilgax was working his last good nerve. He felt it was time he learnt the true power of Sagittarius, the strongest of all the Horoscopes! With a click of his Switch he was now said Zodiart as he barged in to the room where Vilgax and Psyphon were keeping the Switches of the defeated members. "When you told me all the members would be mine I was willing to follow you anywhere, even to your universe. But now I have my doubts on whenever I will see the Presenters. Tell me I wasn't a fool to trust you. It isn't wise to challenge the one who shall evolve the human race to become worthy of the stars." To his right stood Emoto as Virgo, silent and watchful as ever. But deep in his mind he was troubled. It was bad enough he was forced to harm innocent students for the man he thought of as a friend, but if Vilgax is so blinded by revenge then he will have no more part of anything he nor Gamou had planned..

The ruler of Vilgaxia just grinned his slyest smile and gave them the news of what he really wanted to do." Diagon told me more than I let on. It is true I needed all 12 Horoscope Switches for my plan but I had never intended to let you go see these 'Presenters' you hold so dearly to your heart. No, I have greater plans in store for these marvels of human engineering! The Great One told me of the dark side of the Zodiac, the **Shadow Zodiac.** Thanks to the power Psyphon was so wise to save from Diagon before his untimely demise I shall bring about true power beyond what you're ever dreamt about! Now bear witness to the coming of true evolution!" Soon Psyphon flicked a switch on the evil device that had slain Ultimous among the other champions that had their power and/or weapons given to Vilgax and soon five dark balls of light bled out of the machine and each went into a Switch. They began to hum evilly and then they were changed into something Gamou had never thought possible until now. Now the red parts were black and the parts that were black before were now purple with the button that triggered the mutation into a Horoscope darkening into purple with the gold parts faded into a dull bronze." Behold the Dark Horoscope Switches! The future of my rule over not only this universe, but all others as well!" Gamou has heard enough of this madness as did Emoto.

"LEO! Punish this fool for what he has done to us!" Gamou roared. Kou wasted no time in rushing to his master's defense as he transformed into the Leo Zodiarts, growling at Vilgax and Psyphon. While the later was worried about dying at the claws of a monster Vilgax was as calm as this was nothing new. Snapping his fingers Driscoll, Will Harange, Darkstar and Overlord each grabbed the Aries, Gemini, Aquarius and Pisces Switches respectfully and clicked them on. The three Horoscopes were stunned to see four flashes of milky light where they were formerly standing as shadowy orbs formed into each Switch's constellation namesake. When the light died down there were four Horoscopes that Gamou would never have thought to see, except in his darkest nightmares.

Driscoll knew that Sir George would be deeply ashamed at what he was now. He quickly put it out of his mind as he was past the point of caring about what he thought of him. Flexing his new hands he looked over at a nearby mirror and saw just what he was no longer human. He had four wings on his back, a demonic ram head, cast-iron hoofs and evil looking knight armor with the Aries constellation on the breastplate. Drawing the sword **Jason** from its shelve he proclaimed that he was now Dark Aries.

Will wasn't too pleased about being Gemini but if it meant dealing with Ben faster then so be it. He hated Ben ever since he fought out that he was the alien beings that he so hated. He hated how he was once a new caster that followed stories about things that normal humans would need to know. Then around the time Ben found the Prototype Omnitrix he was stuck with following these freaks for the last seven years. When Jimmy Jones leaked the info that Ben and the alien 'heroes' were one and the same he finally had something to focus his hated on. But after the Flame Keepers showed their true colors after all the good he praised about these he was ruined. So it was a surprise that Vilgax went to him with a offer of revenge he couldn't refuse. Now he was a purple and blue jester with white and dark grey highlights with the Gemini constellation on his chest.. But his Gemini form has razor sharp shoulder pads, spots instead of stripes and a less puffy and more muscled look to it than Yuki's. Wearing armored boots with spikes on the tips of them and clawed gloves with a jester hat with spiked ball on the ends with a bronze visor he looked like the stuff nightmare are made from. His face was a pale blue and looked gaunt and cold. He stated in a professional voice that he was now Dark Gemini.

Dying from lack of mana changed Darkstar more than anything else. He wanted power even since he knew about his powers. But Ben and his group kept him from his goals for far too long and for the last time. Now wearing a red duster with water jug shoulder pads on it with matching gloves and boots with a black helmet covering all but his charcoal gray lips and lower face. On his chest was bronze armor with a water theme and the Aquarius constellation on it. His Neater whip was longer and sharper than Erin's model with metal bards on the ends of it. He boldly and loudly said that he is Dark Aquarius, the ruin of Ben Tennyson. Vilgax would let that slide for now as he wanted to be his ruin. No one would take that away from him.

Overlord was always greedy but he still cared about saving lives. When Ben's identity went public he struggled with trying to keep up with the younger man until he reached a breaking point. Not even Jennifer's love could soothe his rage. But now he had the means to make things right by him. He was a dark grey piranha man with clay red armor on his shins, forearms, upper chest and a helmet with the Pisces constellation on its brim. On the forearm armor were two sharp blades and a jagged metal fishfin was on the back of him. Two blades were pointing up on his shin armor and his mouth was full of teeth that were sharper and stronger than his normal ones. Looking up with his glassy white eyes he thundered to the sky that he is no longer Captain Nemesis but Dark Pisces!

Gamou was a little shaken by this but he knew that his dream of seeing the Presenters was gone for good now that four of the Switches were tainted by a power darker than he ever dreamt of. All his life he never thought of himself as having a friend, not even Emoto nor Rokuro. He was the Sun that all others revolve around. But now would be a good time for friends right now as he knew that he stood no chance at beating these new beast borne of Vilgax's ill mind and Diagon's power. With a nod Emoto knew to get the other Horoscopes out of Vilgax's lair right now. But the dark ruler had other plans in store for the others. As Virgo ran to where the others were he saw Psyphon's REDs attacking Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio and Capricorn. So far only Capricorn was doing well as the others look like they were on death's doorstep. Knowing that this is a losing battle he grabbed Capricorn and tried to teleport him out of there. But the youth had other plans.

"Let go of me you weirdo chick! I'm rockin it hard out there! You can't pull me out now, I'm in the zone!" he protested. Virgo glared at him and almost immediately he went silent, too afraid to say anything more." But leaving's good too. I can always rock out later" he laughed nevously. Deep within the Virgo form Emoto sighed sadly. The Taurus Switcher could not be saved after all nor can Scorpio's and Cancer's. With a silent last look he was forced to leave the others to their fate as at long last the three of them felt, only to rise no more. Capricorn looked on shocked that the most powerful Zodiarts were beaten by an onslaught of robots, but Virgo kept shoving him to move on as the portal soon closed as they left the lair that was no longer their home.

Psyphon angrily cursed the fact that the last of his REDs were destoryed in dealing with Scorpio, Cancer and Taurus once and for all. But he doubt Vilgax cared all that much and so kept that in his head. He knew that Vilgax's whims were above all others and he was wise to keep that in mind. As the new Dark Horoscopes watched on Sagittarius fired off a barrage of **Apostolos** arrows form his arm mounted bow Gilgamesh but Vilgax used his Shield to block the attack to Gamou's horror. Knowing that long ranged combat was out of the question he and Leo charged the former avatar of Diagon and attacked him with profound rage. Even though their blows were damaging his armor and drawing blood Vilgax was still on the winning side as the battle raged on for a good half hour. When it neared its end he grabbed Leo's claws and broke them with utmost ease then while Kou was stunned by that happening Vilgax grabbed his forearms and with a swift movement he broke his arms and kicked him away. Kou was in disbelief that they was someone stronger and more skilled than he was and he was the second strongest of all the Horoscopes, second only to his master Sagittarius. With a smooth motion Vilgax swung his sword at Gamou's bow, breaking it into Cosmic Energy dust. As he leapt back to avoid another attack from Vilgax. Kou tried to jumpkick Vilgax but he saw the attack coming and fired off a blast from his Ruby Ray, knocking him down and back to human form. As Gamou saw his loyal bodyguard fade away into Cosmic Energy he knew that there was no other choice. He knew better than anyone that using Zodiart Switches was a big risk as it is a huge physical toll on the users and there was always the risk of the longest term users fading away in stardust when defeated as Kou soon found out. While Horoscopes can use Supernova powers to draw out all the power of their respective constellations they couldn't be used for too lond as overuse will spell the Switcher's doom. But Gamou didn't care about the risk as his life dream was crashing down around him. Electing to use his Supernova power he shed his normal armor to gain a light orange form with greater power, speed and mobility. But he knew the form lacks in defense might but if he could defeat Vilgax before he succumbed to the dark power then he could restart again from scratch. He was always a optimist and this didn't change that fact in the slightest. Gamou then tried to jumpkick Vilgax with a fiery aura around his foot. The attack stuck true and Vilgax fell back as he howled in utter pain, blood gushing out of the fresh wound. Soon Vilgax was firing off lasers from his eyes as he tried to punch and kick Sagittarius Nova to no such luck. As Gamou's blows caused burn marks to form on his skin Vilgax's rage grew more and more terrible with every hit landed. But Gamou's luck soon ran out as a failed fiery punch was caught by the Ruler of Vilgaxia. He soon crushed his hand like someone crushes a paper cup and before the shock could register in Gamou's mind Vilgax leapt into the air and did a backbreaker on Sagittarius, causing the Zodiart form to explode in flames. As Gamou's limp form faded away into dust he dreamt about how much space meant to him. Before he passed on he felt deep regret at what he did to his students. Hopefully someone else would take better care of them than he did.

Vilgax was pleased that Gamou was now gone as his contast talk about 'Presenters' was finally getting on his nerves. Psyphon went over to where the bodies of Sarina, Natsuji and Yuta were finishing fading away. As Yuta sadly thought of the fact he'd never see his beloved Sayaka his final sight was Psyphon grabbing the Switches of Taurus, Scorpio and Cancer and then he felt life no more as his body as well as the other two crumbed into stardust. Placing them as well as the Leo and Sagittarius Switches onto the dark device five more dark energy balls turned the Switches into Dark Switches. Vilgax was quite happy with himself with this indeed. Gamou thought too small for his liking. He likes his dreams to be big and when he gains the last two Swtiches he shall be ruler over both universes! Ben Tennyson shall finally die!

**As always feel free to share your thoughts in the review section.**


	8. Let me explain everything Part 1

Disclaimer :**All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners.**

**AN:** I think I need to add some back story on how Ben killed Diagon as well as how Vilgax was able to keep the Gemini Switch from doing its wacky cloning thingy.

Chapter 8: Let me explain everything part 1

It was hard to believe that it's been over a week since all this craziness started but for the most part Ben was used to it by now. While Kevin wasn't too thrilled about what happened to his car he was still willing to use his connections to get their oddball guest a house to stay in since with the additions of Erin and Ran Ms. Leven's house wouldn't be big enough for all of them. Ben was staying with them as were Julie and Manny but still there was some doubt in Ben's mind. 'Just how am I going to deal with my car with the money I have?' he thought sadly to himself. Manny meant no harm but the damage was beyond what he could fix and since he didn't really know how to work the new Omnitrix he couldn't use Upgrade to work his nanotech magic on it. For all he knew he could turn into Rath or worse Ghostfreak and just make things worse. Plus while he was fond of his new friends they tended to be somewhat louder than he'd like. So he would spend some time in his temporality room to get at least a little peace and quiet. But today he would have no such luck as Gentaro was somehow able to unlock the door with a old gift card he found a few days back.

"Dude, I'd love to play with your friends but I've been having these monster headaches and your loud voice doesn't really help that at all" Ben grumbled as he covered his head with his pillow. But the young Rider would have none of that as he yanked the pillow from the poor boy."Can you just let me sleep it off?"

"I can't let my friends suffer in silence. My parents told me to treasure my friends as they would save me and you are a friend of my friends so I think I need to help you out. That's the code of the Kamen Rider after all." Gentaro politely answered. "I think Yuki may have something to help you out with your headache problem. Let's go downstairs and see if it's ready for you" Ben got up since he knew by now Gentaro would not let anyone be unhappy, no matter what. But he was dreading what was about to happen.

It wasn't easy to make congee with the American rice cooker but still Yuki was resourceful. She really wanted to make her special space congee but lacked the ingredients to do so. But if there was one thing she loved as much as space that thing is spending time with friends and family. Having parents who loved to cook was quite a good experience for the girl as she learned all about great things to make and she was quite good at it too. But she was fond of space and her space-themed recipes didn't go over quite so well with others. She still remembered the day she made the curry overly spicy and poor Shun fainted from the heat. Still no one was hurt thankfully but that was embarrassing to have food you made knock a friend out cold. As Ben and Gen walked down to the table she was pleased indeed as for the fulfilled looks on JK, Ran, Erin, and Julie's faces told her that her congee was very good indeed. "Gen-chan, Ben-san breakfast is served. I made vegetarian congee for everyone so I hope you enjoy." she happily stated to the two boys. Yuki then raised her arms overhead and proclaimed that "Breakfast is here!" Gentaro joined her in her cheerful statement and Ben had to cover his ears since while Gen and Yuki are friendly people who love to help out whenever they can the concept of indoor voices was something they have yet to understand.

Manny however wasn't happy about having congee for breakfast. He wanted bacon and mancakes but he was outvoted by the girls and to his surprise JK as well. He never in all his life have ever met a man who didn't want meat for breakfast. But still someone was nice enough to make him food to eat and he was never one to turn down free food. and he slowly ate the congee. "Hey Ben how are ya holdin out there buddy? Still having those spells from the Ultimatrix?" he asked with his mouth full of food. Erin looked a little grossed out by Manny's lack of manners but she was worried too as Ben looked like he wasn't his usual cheery self. The ill look on the Omnitrix wielder was noticed by Julie as this has been going on and off for the last month.

"Ben are you feeling OK?" she asked him, a look of worry on her face. As Ben sat down he was not looking like he wanted to eat right now. "Gen I know you meant well but Ben might need to go lay back down. He's not looking so good-" Her discussion with the Rider was cut off by Ben vomiting on the floor. His face looked even more haggard than before but he just raised his hand to say he wanted to tell them what they needed to know.

"I'm sure you're all worried about me right now but this is nothing new to me. You may be surprised to hear this but it has something to do with Vilgax" What he said got their attention as he told them the story of what happened to him that long month ago...

_30 days or so ago_

As Ben swung _Ascalon_ at the fused form of Vilgax, Diagon and a Lucurbra he was worried that he should have gone alien instead. But now was not the time to be doubting himself right now. If he failed there the Earth and then the universe would fall to Vilgax. Parrying his energy balls Ben tried to stab the former ruler but Vilgax dodge rolled away and kicked Ben away. Before Vilgax could crush his head underfoot Ben stood up and did a two-handed slash on his chest, causing Vilgax to howl in pain. "C'mon Vilgiy you really want to be Diagon's slave for the rest of eternity? The Vilgax I knew at least had some sort of pride! He'd never let some lame squid brainwash his to become his lackey!" Ben's words did nothing to stop the onslaught of attack from the chimera as Vilgax glared at him. Seeing that Vilgax's breath was on his face Ben tried to stab Vligax so he can end this and free everyone from the spell of Diagon. However Vilgax was too fast for him and grabbed his head, the helmet the only thing keeping Vligax from crushing his head. Ben grunted in pain as he attempted to do SOMETHING, anything to get free but so far no dice.

"Ah hahahaha! You may be the wielder of both the Ultimatrix and Ascalon but only I hold true power! A pity you effects are in vain. But history only favors the victors and your story ends not with a triumph, but with a whimper." As he tried to finish the job Ben was finally able to stab the Gavan sword directly into the heart of Diagon, deep in the chest of Vilgax. With a blinding flash Vilgax was back to his normal form with the energies of Diagon in the sword Ascalon, Ben holding it by his side. He didn't know how and why he got his missing equipment back but he didn't care. Ben now had the power to reshaped the universe as he saw fit. That may prove useful to him. But no matter what he tried Ben was deadset on curing the Flame Keepers and turning them all back to humans. But in the end to Gwen and Kevin's horror Ben finally considered doing Vilgax's bidding and wiping out everyone that threatened the universe. But before Ben could do Vilgax's will Julie flew to where they all were with Ship as her battle armor. To Vilgax's eternal rage she was the one to save Ben's soul and get him to do what he intended to all along and cure the Flame Keepers. When that was said and done the power of Diagon faded as the old god finally died to the conqueror of ten worlds' anger. To make matters worse Ascalon crumbed to dust, all the power in it being too much even for Gavan science to withhold.

"Julie, thank you for telling me what truly matters. I think for now I need to make things right by you and from now on you're looking at the new and improved Ben Tennyson. More thoughtful and kind than ever" But before Kevin could make a quip about Ben being even more girly than before Vilgax shot off a Ruby Ray at Julie. But Ben thought ahead and turned into Diamondhead to block the shot off."And I thought I was the sore loser here. Just admit you lost and we'll call it even, OK?" Vilgax snarled at his innocent question and tried to cleave Diamondhead in half. But his sword only hit the ground below them as Ben turned into XLR8 to speed Julie away from his hopefully last battle with Vligax. As Ben rapid punched the ruler to little or no effect Vilgax grabbed his tail and slammed him down brutally around five or seven times. Ben changed form to Swampfire and burned Vilgax's face with his fire attacks, rolling away before Vilgax could regain his bearings. "I don't think it's hero time right now. It's time to go Ultimate!"as he clicked the dial to the Ultimate form setting.

**"ULTIMATE SWAMPFIRE!"**

Hitting Vilgax with a blue tornado as he also blasted him with blue balls of fire Ultimate Swampfire thought that would be the last he saw of Vilgax. But to his horror he saw that he protected himself with that lousy shield of his. Switching to Ultimate Cannonbolt he sped to where Vilgax was and rammed his head-on, breaking his shield in the process. As Vilgax tried to keep U. Cannonbolt away from him with his claws now smoking from his attempts he then was able to kicked the evolved alien away from him. Ben however didn't want to give up just yet. Powering down and switching to Chamalien he stabbed Vilgax in the face with his stinger then cloaked himself and ran around the ruins of the Mount Rushmore base, Vilgax cursing the fact that he knew not where Ben was. Vilgax gave up on finding the boy and bashed the heads of Gwen and Kevin together, knocking them out to the utter shock of Julie and Ben. To this day Ben still has nightmares about what transpired next.

Vilgax impaled Julie with his sword and threw her limp form over to where the viewing window was. As Chamalien ran over to where she laid, her face looking as pale as death he then turned to where Vilgax was gloating as his face grew hot from his understandable anger."Look at it this way Ben. Julie just isn't all that popular with some of your fans. I did you a favor here this day" he evilly told him with a sick smile on his face. Ben had just about heard enough of his madness. Morphing to Rath, his body shaking with rage he then activated the Ultimate setting. Soon his body was covered with white fur as his hand now had two talons jutting out of them with his mouth now having two saberteeth in there as well. He was much larger than before and his fingers and toes had sharp claws at the ends of them.

**"ULTIMATE RATH!"** he thundered, the air around them vibrating from the sheer volume of his voice. Vilgax however wasn't worried at all. but that soon ended when U. Rath stuck him in the eyes with his larger talons. As Vilgax fell back in pain he was stunned that Ben would go this far for the human girl. But U. Rath was beyond the ability to speak as he charged at the ruler, Vilgax doing the same as his eyes have finished healing. Soon the air was quaking from their blows as the both of them were not gaining any ground but they were too angry to even care at this point.

It was early in the morning as both combatants were still going at it, giving no care to the new day as it greeted them all with the promise of something better. **"LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN VILGAX! YOU CAN HURT ME, YOU CAN HURT MY FEELINS IF I HAD ANY BUT IF YOU MESS WITH MY GIRLFREIND THEN YOU'RE GONNA DIE! PAINFULLY!"** Vilgax was pleased that Ben had finally given in to utter rage and was about to give him the battle to the death he wanted even since Ben was a young boy. But nothing lasts forever as at along last Vilgax grabbed the Ultimatrix from Ultimate Rath's chest and tore it clean off, blood stepping from the fresh wound as Ben slammed both hands on Vilgax's head, knocking him unconscious. "**Guess I'm the winner at long last Vilgax! That's what ya get for messin with Rath's lady, ya dumb mook!"** as he changed back to being plain Jane Ben and falling down, a sad smile on his face as he slumbered. Sure he won but at what cost to Julie? As the Ultimatrix laid forgotten Gwen and Kevin tried to give Ben and Julie medical aid but so far nothing wanted to work for them. But soon Azmuth showed up and then things would change forever.

_NOW_

While everyone was gripped by Ben's tale he had to stop for a bathroom break. When he got back he would finish his tale and then they would all know why he was the way he is now.

**Let me know about how this story's going in the review section and be here for the exciting conclusion to Ben's shocking tale as well as how Vilgax was able to control the darker side of the Gemini Switch! **


	9. Let me explain everything Part 2

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners.**

Chapter 9: Let me explain everything Part 2

_About 20 minutes after Ben's so-called last battle with Vilgax_

Gwen was upset upon hearing the news about Ben and Julie's conditions. Not only was their chances of survival slim but even if they lived though this they would have horrible scars the rest of their lives since Vilgax somehow had managed to store a small portion of Diagon's power and the supernatural energy that was his being meant not even Gavan science could fully fix them. It ultimately fell to the both of them to save themselves and she couldn't do a thing to save them, the cousin he loved like a brother and the girl she cared for like a younger sister. Kevin gave her a comforting look but it did little to soothe her troubled mind. "I know you mean well Kevin but I just can't help but worry about them. George was the expert on Diagon and even he didn't know everything about him. It just upsets me that even though we saved the universe AGAIN we may end up losing Ben" She then breathed harshly and bit her lip to keep from getting even more upset than she was right now.

"Look Gwen, we all know stupid people are tough and Ben's pretty dumb so that makes him one of the toughest people around. But his lack of smarts never stopped him from doing the right thing even if his ego grew to the size of Jupiter. He's going to be fine, I promise" Kevin soothing told her but to be honest he wasn't sure Ben would pull though. As they walked back and forth in the waiting room while Ben was getting surgery that will hopefully save his life they wondered if he knew how bad things were right now. The Plumbers were swamped with getting people to safety after Diagon's spell was broken and the skeleton crew that was operating on Ben and Julie wasn't as fully trained as the normal group. Just then Azmuth walked in to where they were. His face looked worried but his feelings were so much more than that. He was upset with Ben for risking his life fighting Vilgax, angry at Albedo for making the Ultimatrix and building it so poorly, disappointed at the Forever Knights shouting revenge against Ben even though Diagon was George's true killer and more than anything else he was angry at himself. He should have gave Ben a new Omnitrix when he had it finished but if they was one character fault Azmuth would admit about himself it was he held on to grudges longer than can be considered healthy and he was still upset about Ben blowing up the Prototype Omnitrix, although it was for noble causes. Plus it seemed Ben would remain a child forever, whining and pouting when thing did not go his way and bragging about every little accomplishment he ever did. But Ben was wiser than he gave him credit for and he had grown up so much since he last saw him. But he had to deliver the news regarding Ben and Julie and it was something that worried even the Gavan.

"As you both are aware of magic isn't a field that the Plumbers normally deal with. We did all we could for the both of them but it's going to take some time for them to heal" Azmuth then cleared his throat as he had more to say to them both. " I have deactivated the Ultimatrix as it was such shoddy work. It's not even fit to be called Gavan technology! Ben will from now on use the True Omnitrix, the true successor to my first Omnitrix. It is superior to both the Prototype and the Ultimatrix in every way plus it doesn't have that forsaken evolution function Albedo added. Behold!" With those words Azmuth had two nurses and to this Ben wanted them to be cute girls, not rough burly men, wheeled him in to where Gwen and Kevin were right by. Gwen was crying tears of happiness and Kevin was about to cry too, but he would NEVER admit to doing it. Ben weakly held up his wrist to show that instead of the bulky and clumsy Ultimatrix he now wore a sleek and stylish new Omnitrix that looked like something that fits Ben than the more warlike Ultimatrix.

As Ben and Azmuth went on about the new features and functions of the "watch", Kevin wanted to just go home but Gwen sharply but quietly told him that they have to wait for Julie. Kevin gave a embarrassed "Oh yeah" and let the two finish what they wanted to share. When all of that was said and done Ben showed Gwen and Kevin his new scar. Gwen was sickened to her stomach while Kevin was impressed as tough guys normally are with scars. On Ben's chest was a small but ghastly X-shaped scar that would there the rest of his life. Soon after Julie was brought in. She was in better shape than Ben was, but she was still woozy from lack of blood. Lifting her shirt up she showed the trio of Ben, Gwen and Kevin that on the right side of her stomach was a long red scar but other than that she was relatively unharmed.

It was a long month of recovery for Ben as he didn't have Azmuth tell anyone other than Julie and his family than all the forced evolution he did to himself had finally taken its toll on his body. Albedo never made the Ultimatrix to used as long as Ben did and it was showing that the younger Gavan flatout sucked at making Omnitrixes: Ben's cells were breaking down. Azmuth didn't know if there was anything that the Plumbers could do to save him but Ben still wanted to be a hero. Azmuth was pleased that even though his life was at risk Ben still wanted to save lives and in general do good. His relationship with Julie had improved dramatically as while they was still some clashing of egos Ben and Julie were more open and honest about how much they cared and loved each other. After a few dates Ben told her that if they was something that could be done about his cellular breakdown problems then he would marry her after they finished collage together.

_NOW_

Ben's story had moved Erin, Yuki and Ran to tears while Gentaro and JK were flatout crying their eyes out. It wasn't the most romantic story ever but they were impressed with Ben's tale of heroism. Manny however was asleep as not only did he hear this story three times already he was, to be quite honest, bored with it. So bored in fact that he was face deep in his less than half-eaten congee, his snoring causing bubbles to form. This however was noticed by Erin as she grabbed his shirt collar and shook him awake. "I find it hard to believe that someone as lazy and thoughtless as you gets to go to space. Ben's story was not only intriguing but his woes with forced evolution may be able to help us out as well." she scolded the by now wide awake half-alien." We don't know if they are any side effects that may happen down the road and if I am to become a astronaut I need to know if there's going to things that might go wrong with my body" Ran gave Erin a worried look as she was deeply upset about the changes that were forced upon her too. Could she be suffering the same fate as Ben was?

Manny wiped off the rice dish from his face and looked over at the two girls. They were really, REALLY cute even when upset and he knew it. "You both are quite fine indeed" he leered at them as his eyes were focused on their bodies to Erin's nervous joy and Ran's annoyance. "But if you're worried about side effects then what about your buddy that kinda spilt from her Zodiart form?" as he directed his gaze to where Yuki was as she held onto her Hayabusa-kun doll, a look of profound sadness on her face.

While Gen wanted to smack some manners into Manny JK stopped him from doing so, at least for right now."His question was lacking in tack but I'm worried about Yuki-san too. If it's alright can you tell us just what happened to you before?" he asked politely.

Yuki swallowed hard as this was not a memory she wanted to bring up but she knew they had the right to know just what was the deal with her Zodiart form. "If you may be seated then I shall begin. It's not a happy tale but you all have the right to know why Gemini became separate from myself." She was on the verge of crying but Gentaro held onto her hand to comfort her and she was deeply thankful for that. With that out she continued her tale of woe as the others looked on, concerned about how she may be holding up since this was a very upsetting memory she was bringing up.

_Sometime during Chapter two..._

"WHAT DO YOU MEANT SHE'S GOING TO JUST SPLIT UP?! HUMANS DON'T DO THAT...normally. If there's anything else that I need to know then you tell me NOW!" Vilgax raged at Gamou as Yuki looked at the both of them in utter fear. Vilgax was scary enough just standing there but Gamou frightened her the most. He was someone she looked up too her entire life and to think that not only did he want her to become one of the monsters she swore to fight with her friends the Kamen Rider Club but to go somewhere else that they weren't even sure they would be able to come back from. Gamou however was as calm as ever and that scared her even more than anything else.

"Gemini is a unique constellation. Those born under its light that can evolve into Horoscopes have a different effect happen to them. When they active Zodiart Switches the dark side of them come out of them and gains a body of Cosmic Energy. From there the dark side will drain away everything from their former host until one of them dies. Should the dark side die then the Switcher regains everything and reverts to a normal human, but without the dark side in their mind. But if the former host should die then the dark side becomes a true human with the powers of the Gemini Zodiart as the former host dissolves into stardust. It's as simple as that" Gamou answered Vilgax as if he just wanted to know the time. However the ruler of Vilgaxia wasn't too happy about all of this. He wanted just the girl to be part of his army, not have to deal with a duel between her and her darkest aspects.

Yuki however just wanted to run away and find somewhere safe but with Psyphon blocking the door she had nowhere to go but where Vilgax wanted to go. The girl broke down and cried loudly as Vilgax covered his earholes in pain. Gamou however had a heart and tried to give Yuki a comforting hug. But Yuki shank away in fear of him but a growl from Vilgax made her consider otherwise. As he rocked her back and forth she felt a little better but not by much.

"If it makes you feel any better I can then have Psyphon tweak your Switch so you can change without that side effect. But you must promise me that when you are in you new form that you not lose control of your anger or otherwise your darkside will come out and you will have a 24 hour window to deal with that before you fade away unless you darkside dies before the 24 hours are up. Do you understand?" he asked the frightened girl as she nodded in complete fear. It hurt Gamou to see the young woman he loved as a daughter shake in fear like this and someone else who was 'visited' by the Presenters too no less. As he sadly watched as Vilgax carried her away as she screamed and howlered in terror he made it a point to stay by her side until she was her cheerful self again.

_Back to where we were before._

_"_Gamou-san told me the rest as they did the work on my Switch. I was so worried that I'd never see you again but there you were. But you have a good bit too make up for, going after some boy and forgetting our promise, although I'm glad you remembered it when I needed you too the most" As Yuki gave Gen a sad smile he wondered if she would ever be as happy again as she was before. "You really messed up Gen-chan. I'll always love you but I don't know if I can trust you as much again" she mused as Gentaro looked deeply ashamed and Ben gave a nervous chuckle.

"Ben, you're not at fault here. But I think you have to help Gen and Yuki out. We were kind of in their boat before, remember?" Julie whispered to Ben. Still the both of them were worried about what effect the events of the last week will have on them all in the long run.

**As always leave a review in the review section if you so feel like it.**


	10. Virgo's sorrow

**DISCLAIMER: All characters and themes are the propriety of their respective owners.**

**AN:** Spoilers for the last two episodes of Fourze are in this chapter so if you don't want to be spoiled then wait until you catch up then read on.

Chapter 10: Virgo's sorrow

It was days like this that made Tojiro wonder if doing this whole 'Horoscope' thing was worth it. He hadn't slept well in days, Virgo was hounding him about keeping a low profile, something the hard rocking youth wasn't used to doing and he'd do ANYTHING for some good Gyoza! Bellwood is not the place to go for good Japanese food. Sitting down on a old bench he ran his hands over his oddly shaped hair as Virgo walked over to where he was sitting. Between these 'Dark Horoscopes' and Vilgax himself he didn't really want to be Capricorn anymore."I'm out man. I wanted to share my love of rock and roll with the others, not fight to the death" he bemoaned to the angelic Zodiart. It seemed like nothing fazed the winged one as 'she' (he wasn't totally sure Virgo even HAD a gender) never got into raging fits of anger.

Deep within the Virgo Emoto was about worn out. If Gamou's latest plans didn't convince him that betraying his friend was a bad idea then this would be like a alarm, blaring loudly "EMOTO! You didn't focus hard enough and now innocent people are getting killed because you wanted power all those years ago!" Sighing sadly as he powered down to Tojiro's shock as he sat down his thoughts went to how the Core Child, Kengo and the young man he took under his wing, Ryusei are holding up in his absence. He wanted the later of the two boys to keep his identity as Meteor a secret but he tended to be far too hot headed for his good sometimes. While he knew Aries was to blame for his lapse in judgment he couldn't really blame the two of them for what they did. Ultimately both the injuries of Ryusei's friend and the corruption of the kind-hearted boy who would better be known as Aries was his fault and he knew it. But youth tends to want the fastest, most interesting way of getting things done, even if said faster ways are dangerous beyond belief. He was swayed by the promise of the power he craved and turned his back on Utahoshi and chosen the Zodiart Switches over the safer Fourze System on the grounds that none of them would be able to fully use it when it was done...seventeen years from when they found the Core Switch.

Tojiro was finally able to get over his shock and bluttered out "Holy crap! You're Professor Emoto! How did you become a commander? I thought you were one of the highest esteemed minds of Japan and would be the last person to use a Switch" Emoto silently nodded to answer the hotheaded boy and told him everything he needed to know, about how he foolish choose power over friendship, how he was responsible for the death of his closest friend and how that made him hate the Moon and how his short time here in quiet little Bellwood, in a universe that was never real to them until a short time ago, retaught him about how much friendship really mattered. When he was done Tojiro was speechless. To think that such a happy-go lucky, if somewhat clumsy guy was the executioner for these 'Horoscopes' and that he fell into Gamou's power trap as he did. But little he know that Ben was watching them both, transformed into Chamalien and invisible. Using a Plumber radio he relayed what the two of them had said and there was much shock to be had about this latest tidbit of news.

"Emoto-sensei is Virgo? I thought he was our friend but he really a apostle? Could that really be true?" Gentaro was very upset about finding out that Emoto, the man he thought he could trust the safety of his friends too was the dreaded Virgo Zodiarts and that he may have played a part in what had transpired to Yuki, Erin, Ran, Tojiro and the late Yuta, although they wouldn't find out about his passing until later. The young Rider was unhappy that he thought Emoto was helping our the monsters that threatened the student body and that he was now just sitting there, as if he had no care in the world.

JK however was both pleased and angry at Tojiro. Running up to where he was sitting he cried out" Yo Tojiro-kun! Is this how you wish to fulfill our dreams? By using dark powers to force people into liking you? I've learned from a good friend that people shouldn't hurt others to live their hopes and dreams." But Tojiro would not listen to reason as the negative Cosmic Energy had warped his mind. With a glare he mutated into his Capricorn form and cried out "Rock N Roll, Yeah!" as he attacked his former bandmate with his sound attacks. Ben was annoyed that JK ruined any element of surprise but he still had to save the poor boy. Fading back to being visible he tackled the vibrantly dressed student out of harm's way. "Thank you. I know you might not believe me but Tojiro was once a good friend of mine. All that energy he absorbed is driving him mad. Please, you gotta save him!" he pleaded to Chamalien.

Ben did believe him however. After dealing with Kevin's energy-based insanity twice he readily knew that he can save Tojiro from the Horoscopes and himself. But if sound was his forte then he'd have to use a form he really didn't like to use but given the circumstances he had no choice to bring out this form. With a twist and a click Ben was now Benwolf. With a howl he slashed at the Capricorn Zodiarts with his claws as Tojiro tried to regain his bearings. 'I don't think he really knows how to fight at all. He's just lashing out and using his powers to distance himself from anything that may harm him.' Ben thought to himself. But Ben was hard pressed to end this as soon as he could as Benwolf, while far more controllable than Rath tended to follow his basic instincts more than he should, like hunger. As Tojiro strummed his guitar Uruk to attack Benwolf with a sonic attack Ben counter-attacked with his supersonic howl, knocking the Capricorn Zodiarts down. As Benwolf walked to where he laid Emoto turned into Virgo and bashed him in the back of his head with his Rhodia's blunt side, getting him away from the cocky youth as he forcibly picked him up.

" Baka. It would help the both of us if you didn't run right into things you do not understand. Perhaps we should regroup at a more con-" But Virgo's scolding was cut short by Benwolf's angry snarls, the sudden attack rendering Ben unable to discern friend from foe. Now a animalistic berserker Benwolf rampaged towards the two Horoscopes, caring not for anyone who would be in his way. JK was never the bravest people around but even he knew that he couldn't even think to fight off Benwolf.

Luckily for JK Gentaro was on it. Trapping the crazed Benwolf with the Net Module he then proclaimed that once again he was coming to space with Yuki, Erin and Ran joining in on his cheer. As Benwolf calmed down he shook his head to clear his thoughts and went for Brainstorm. One of these days he's going to learn how to get Benwolf to do things without those freakouts of his. As Virgo turned to where Fourze was he slowly walked towards the Rider as Fourze got into a fighting pose. "You hurt my friends once, Emoto. I will not allow you to do that again. My friends are my universe and if you're thinking of forcing them back to being your slaves, then you're sadly mistaken!" Before Emoto could tell him the truth Fourze tried to kick him with the professor forced to defend himself from the annoyed Kamen Rider. Trying to fly away so he gain some distance between him and Gen his attempts were stopped by the Winch Module dragging him down to Earth. But Virgo was able to slash the Rider with his halberd, setting him free from Fourze as he then fired off energy balls at Fourze. Forced to block them with the Shield Module Gentaro knew that he needed a edge but with his friendship with Yuki a bit uneasy right now Cosmic was out of the question. Whipping out the MS Magphone he pulled it into the Fourze Driver as well was Launcher and Gattiling. Soon his suit was silver and bulkier with two railguns on his shoulders and he now wore a bigger helmet to help with balancing that extra weight. Activating all four Switches at once for a Limit Break he thought Virgo would go down, simple as that. But life is never that simple as he would find out soon enough. Virgo had opened a portal to redirect his attack at him and it hit him deadon, flipping him onto his back painfully to the worried cries of his friends.

"Do not interfere with me child. I have important matters to discuss with your friends regarding their unfortunate experiences. It is best you stay down for now for if you decide to interfere with me before I am done then I will show you no mercy" he declared to Gentaro as he then walked over to where Yuki and the others were at. Yuki was shaking in fear as she thought he was trying to take them back to Gamou as they tried to run away from the powerful Zodiarts. But Virgo teleported right in forth of them to their horror as Ran readied herself for combat against this old foe.

Tojiro meanwhile was having trouble breaking Brainstorm's forcefeild to no avail. "Perhaps you would find it more advantageous to reconsider a more meaningful attack plan, my good fellow" Brainstorm said in his British accent. But Tojiro was at wit's end with the crab alien as he tried to brainwash some bystanders to charge at Ben. Brainstorm knew that he wouldn't be able to defeat Capricorn soon enough if he managed to get innocent people caught up in this. Switching to XLR8 Ben tackled Tojiro to the ground and before Tojiro could get up Ben struck him hard with two tornados he formed by spinning his arms full speed, blasting the young rocker a good distance away from the others. As Capricorn got to one knee Ben changed to FourArms and punched him with all four of his namesake arms, knocking him both down and back to human form.

Ran didn't want to have to fight as her Aikido teachers told her that it's better to defend yourself than to just attack blindly but Virgo was leaving her no choice in the matter. "When will you learn that we don't want to be monsters like you?! We wish to live as humans and better both our lives and those of others around us as well" she proudly and truthfully told Virgo. To her shock he changed back to being Emoto, looking as calm as ever. "W-Wh-Why Emoto-sensei? Just what is it you really want from us?" Ran sanpped at the man as he placed his Switch in a coat pocket.

"To save you. It's that simple, Ran-chan" he calmly told them all. "Vilgax has proven to be unstable as he has slain the other members. I tried to save Yuta but he was regrettably beyond my help by the time I got to him. But there's more to what has happened to you and it is of dire importance that you know about-"Emoto was cut off by a strong gust of wind blowing him down and knocking away his Virgo Switch. When the dust cleared everyone was stunned to see Vilgax himself holding the Capricorn and Virgo Switches and placing them into a strange machine that placed dark energy into them, changing their color schemes to Emoto's horror. With a heavy sigh he said "I'm too late to stop your madness from coming to fruition. But I beg of you, please have mercy on these poor students!" he pleaded to the dark ruler but Vilgax laughed it off as if it was nothing. "Perhaps you didn't meet with Sugilite, a old friend of mine. He knows better than anyone that I don't know of mercy. But that is no concern for you now .Prepare to die, knowing that you lived a life of utter shame!" Raising his sword overhead he planned on ending his life there and now but Fourze recovered fast enough to hold his killing blow in place with Magnet States' powers, giving everyone the chance to flee. Howling in rage Vilgax tried to blast Fourze with his Ruby Ray but someone absorbed the blast: The Codon Stream's sample of Sugilite. Chromastone

"Here's a message to your from the people of Petopia! You stink at making friends!" as Chromastone retaliated with a laser blast, hitting Vilgax in his face. Fourze was quite pleased indeed as Ben is proving to be far more than he first thought. Perhaps he may be his friend afterall. Wrapping Vilgax up with a net from the Net Module Fourze then used the Wheel Module to speed away with the injured Emoto as Ben froze Vilgax with Big Chill's icy breath, giving everyone time to evaculate.

By the time everyone was gone Vilgax finally broke free from his bounds. He wasn't able to kill Ben but now he had all the pieces he needed for his final revenge. 'Soon, I shall be victorious once again and the name of Vilgax will cast dread over the universe once more!' he thought to himself.

_A hour or so later_

Julie and Manny were looking over at the old wallpaper than was over every wall of their temporality loggings. It was a faded grey and it was peeling BADLY plus it smelled to high Heaven. It needed to be replaced and soon. Luckily the owner of the building agreed with them and gave them the money to replace the old wallpaper with new paint. During breakfast everyone thought that a coral blue would work out the best. But they never expected the others to bring over both Tojiro and Emoto over. It took a good long while but everyone was caught up on the fact that Emoto was indeed their ally. He told them of how he tried to stop Gamou's plans from the inside by providing Ryusei with his Meteor arsenal as well as teleporting injured members of the Horoscopes to his satellite the to heal and hopfully detox them of the negative Cosmic Energy.

Yuki was quite thrilled to hear that Emoto was a secret ally of theirs, plus he had a space station he could call his own. Erin was pleased as well as she always wanted to go on a space station too. Needless to say both girls were on cloud nine with this news. As Tojiro and JK caught up on the latest goings on Ben wanted to ask him if he was doing any better. As Ben himself knew from bitter experience Vilgax never pulled his punches and right now he was in no shape to deal with the ruler of Vilgaxia right now. Yuki provided Ben with a soft chair to sit down on while Ran gave him a tissue so he can cough into it. To everyone's horror Ben was coughing up blood. Erin cleaned up Ben's face as Julie called the Plumbers to let them know Ben's condition has gotten much, much worse. Gentaro looked on wondering if the Medical Switch could help but Emoto shook his head sadly.

"I doubt that the Fourze System can help Ben now. His condition is beyond anything that Terran science knows about. We'll have to trust in Julie's decision and see if the Plumbers can help him out." he somberly told Gentaro. However Erin had a idea and it worried Emoto very much.

"If I remember correctly my Aquarius form has healing powers. If I can regain my Switch then I could help Ben" she happily said.

"Plus I think the Pisces form I had may be able to purify the toxins in his bloodstream. It's worth a shot at least right?" Ran innocently asked of Emoto, his face growing graver with he was hearing.

"Plus if I can use Gemini's duplicating powers then we can have a extra set of hands to help Ben!" Yuki cheerfully answered to the joy of everyone but Ben and Emoto.

"I was afraid of this happening. Going into the warp gate has saturated your bodies with negative Cosmic Energy. I fear you have a addiction to the dark powers plus if you try to use the Switches altered by Vilgax then you would not survive" he grimly told them. To drive his point home he picked up a mirror and showed Yuki, Erin, Ran and Tojiro to their utter terror something that was very wrong indeed.

Their eyes were glowing with red light. As Emoto's did the same he gave them the news of what needed to be done immediately.

"We have to detox all the negative energy from our bodies or they will break down from the strain of the mutation brought about by Switch usage." As Yuki and Ran broke down in tears Gen and JK looked at the dying form of Ben Tennyson and wondered if he even could be saved.

**Feel free to let me know what you think in the reviews section and if there's anything that can be improved!**


	11. London Bridges falling down Part 1

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners. **

Chapter 11: London bridges falling down Part 1

_London, 12:41 P.M_

Diagon's coming had weakened the dimensional walls of Ben's universe. As the former avatar of the Old One himself Vilgax now knew everything that he knew about these weak spots that he could, in theory, bring about the end of Bellwood. From Gamou's research Vilgax learnt that when all 12 Horoscope Switches are used by one person then a warp gate formed from a dimensional hole can be used to go directly to just about anywhere in the universe. Of course the pull of such a feat would utterly destroy the surrounding arena but since this was Earth, a planet considered less than trash by some species, Vilgax really couldn't care less. Once he across the portal back to Vilgaxia he would then gather the rest of his fleet and drag Earth to its doom. But of course he needed to get to where these holes were and alter them to become warpgates. One such place was in London, and Vilgax was almost giddy about heading home after so long. Ben was a nuisance as always but with their new powers Driscoll and Zombozo were quite ready for their rematch with the grandson of Max Tennyson. Zombozo was now Dark Taurus, a minotaur with robotic arms, a laser sight over his missing eye, blue suspenders, and the Taurus constellation on the form's chest. Drill-like horns gutted out of his head and in his nose was a spiked ring. He stomped the ground hard, causing the road under him to wobble about, and the people on said road to scream and shout in terror. Oh, how Zombozo missed this! To hear the people run in fear at his coming and soil themselves just by looking at him! As both Dark Aries and Dark Taurus went about their business Vilgax prepared to use the 12 Switches to do his dark deed. If he was unable to do so then he had a backup plan in store. One can never be too careful with Ben Tennyson, now can they?

_A half hour earlier on a Plumber training base in Earth's orbit_

Julie was worried about what was happened to both her new friends and her admittedly oddball boyfriend Ben. Yuki, Erin, Ran and Tojiro were suffering from negative Cosmic Energy addition and Ben's cells were slowly dying from overuse of the Ultimatrix's Ultimate function. Albedo had never planned on using the Ultimatrix for as long as Ben had and never fully tested it for safety and any long term side effects. She silently cursed Albedo's name as Manny sat be her, looking as upset as she was. But he still wanted to cheer her up and she was thankful for his effects in doing so. "Hey, cheer up Julie. Ben's dealt with weirdo body issues before and he's always come on top. He's going to pull though, Jules. He's not one to go quietly into the good night" he told her.

But Julie was still not sure about Ben's chances of survival."Thank you Manny. I really do mean that but Ben never had to deal with a Omnitrix that was killing him from the inside. If only he gotten the Omnitrix he has on now sooner, none of this would be happening. I can't help but feel like this is my fault" she expressed to Manny. She looked like she would have no joy in her life again. Ben was, as much as her father told her otherwise, was the biggest part of her life and if he died then in a sense a part of her would die too. But Manny wouldn't let her sulk in her own misery. Ben and both Gentaro and JK needed her to keep the cheer up and if she was allowed to stew in her own sorrow then she was of no use to anyone.

"Julie, you know Ben ain't no saint. Remember how much he ticked everyone off with how much he loved being the big cheese of the universe? I think you were angrier than even Azmuth about how fat Ben's head had gotten. But he still knew that he had to be the hero to everyone who looks up to him. This life didn't choose Ben but he never backed down from a challenge and don't think that this is all your fault. Well it's not and you know it" he corrected the tennis player. "Besides don't you think he wants to come home to a beautiful girl that loves and cares for him? I know I would!" Manny cheerfully admitted to Julie. The young girl bushed at what he had told her as she never really thought of herself as that way before."But there's more to you than a pretty face. You're smart, resourceful, able to give Ben the business when he needs it better than even Kevin, plus you see Ben as a human being, not some alien freakshow. Trust me when I say that means more to Ben then he lets on but he really loves that part about you" Julie had heard the story about how Kai wanted Ben to stay as Benwolf forever so her can train him as pet and while she didn't share in Gwen's anger towards the selfish girl she knew that it would NEVER work out between those two. But now wasn't the time to sulk as Gen and JK needed them right now. 'Hopefully they're doing all right with all this and their friends will pull though this' Julie thought. If there was ever a time for a miracle, now was the perfect time for that.

Ben generally knew when things just weren't right with people exposed to odd energies and the case with his new friends was no different. While he getting a transfusion of blood to slow down or better yet, halt his genetic breakdown for a short time he felt that Gentaro needed a friendly ear right about now. "Look I know we don't know much about Cosmic Energy but Azmuth's smarter than most anybody in this universe and Emoto's there to help out. Look, I know you're worried but getting all upset over this isn't going to help them any faster" But Gentaro was the sort of person to wear his heart on his sleeve and he was still depressed over all of this.

"How can I relax? I've failed as a Kamen Rider and we still don't know if what your Azmuth is planning with work on them!" Gentaro cried out, fear resounding in his voice. But his fears about how the 'detoxing' were nothing to how worried we was for their state of mind. Higher science was never his field of expertise and if something was way over his head he had both Kengo and Yuki to help him out with that. But Kengo wasn't there and Yuki was poisoned by the dark energies of a Horoscope Switch, causing her to lash out at people randomly. Since the former Horoscopes in Ben's care were not fully capable of controlling themselves with negative CE in their bodies they had to restrained for their own good. Having to strap down people who he cared about, who were always happy to be around him, was almost too much for the happy go lucky boy to handle. JK tried to place a hand on his shoulder but Gen wasn't in the mood right now as he just put his hand back down and sat down by Ben to sulk.

"Gentaor-san, try to hold onto the hope that the others will pull though. Emoto is our friend and I'm sure he'll come up with something" JK comforted the Rider. Hearing that his friends were in the care of someone he could trust, albeit a person who was also a former Horoscope Switcher, helped calm him down. Just then Azmuth walked in with some bittersweet news for both Gen and Ben.

"The good news is after Emoto was willing to test the Cosmic Energy draining technology we are pleased to report that there will no side effects for those undergoing the treatment. However it does take some time to fully drain away all the Cosmic Energy from a person's body and regrettably the process is rather painfully. So you will need to come to the operating room and try to comfort the other before they begin treatment" Azmuth cleared his throat as this next bit was going to be hard to say, especially to Ben who the news affects the most out of all of them. "Ben... I've gone over you latest reading and so far I have found no way to stop your cellular degeneration. You will be dead within the next two months. I'm truly sorry about this Ben" Azmuth then deeply sighed as while his face didn't show it he was hurting inside from the emotional pain of what he told them about Ben's fate. It was unprofessional to get overly emotional over things like, but Azmuth didn't want to lose Ben as he thought of him like a grandson, though he would never admit it. Ben knew from all the times he's been with Azmuth that while he didn't seem like it he did care about people more than he lets on. But his life was never easy with all sort of criminals and warlords wanting to pervert his works into weapons of mass destruction, causing him to lose much of his good humor and making it hard for him to trust others easily.

Gen however was not happy about Ben's grim diagnostic. Bending down to Azmuth's level he wanted to let out all his fears and worries to him by he was unable to do so as he just cried out in sorrow. As JK picked him up Ben asked "Is he going to be OK?"

JK turned to where Ben was sitting and admitted "I don't really know anymore" as they both headed to where the others were.

It was perhaps the hardest thing Gentaro had ever done before. Luckily Erin and Ran were asleep right now, but the moments of bliss were cut off by a odd jerk every now and again. Sure this would cure them but having to hurt his friends to save them? That went against his code of conduct and it made him sick to his stomach just thinking about that. Both girls were sealed into a cylinder that was connected to what one could consider a high tech pump. Although they were sleeping peacefully it still pained Gen when the machine was turned on, draining away the negative Cosmic Energy that triggered their mutations and unfortunately causing them some distress. The process went on for ten minutes but to Gen and JK it seemed like a eternity. When it was done Erin and Ran had to be lead to a recovery station to recuperate from this, but to Gentaro's relief it was just laying down in a nice bed and getting waited on. The food could be nicer though but that's what one expects from a military base, even one in space run by aliens.

When it was Tojiro and Yuki's turn Ben wanted to help them out to where they needed to go. Of course that was easier said than done.

"I'm gonna rock and roll FOREVER! You can't stop my talent, you lameass basta-" Tojiro's shouts were blocked off thankfully by the soundproof nature of the cylinder he was placed in. JK couldn't stand to see the man that was his friend act out like this. Tojiro was always friendly and never bore any ill will toward anyone, even if he can be manipulative at times. Still it seemed like he calmed down enough to show him a note he made saying "When you're better we should practice some more. I thought about our old band back in middle school and while I don't want to go pro anymore I still want to rock out with you because you're my friend. " Tojiro gave JK a sincere smile and a hearty thumbs up as if to say "Of course! We rockers have to stay together, right?" JK then headed back to where Manny and Julie were with the others, feeling better about life now that there was a light in the darkness.

Yuki was able to go in without insentient to Gentaro's relief. But then was something she wanted to say before the cylinder was sealed. "Gen-chan, we've known each other for years now. We always have been the best of friends but lately I have been thinking about the good you did for everyone back home. I was so worried that Kengo-kun would get hurt fighting the Zodiarts but you were able to become Fourze and save him from that fate. In fact you were able to make so many friends that Amanogawa High School is a much better place because of what you've done for all the students there. " She was blushing because this next thing she wished to say was embarrassing but it needed to known now. But the cylinder was closed on her before she could say it. Hot tears were falling down her cheeks as Gentaor asked her kindly if she was alright but she could hear nothing though the glass. But then a odd little miracle happened right there and then. As it would turn out Yuki's tears were fogging up the cylinder. Seeing her chance she wrote something near and dear to her heart and hoped that Gentaro felt the same way as she did. On the tube she wrote "I love you" in Kanji on the condensation in the tube. Gentaro was so happy to hear or rather see that! He always was close to Yuki and hoped that she loved him as much as he did, but he was afraid that she might reject him. Plus his first love, Nadeshiko had her body destroyed by Foundation X so Gentaro was a little paranoid about letting people get that close to him again. But there it was, clear as day. Taking a piece of paper he wrote "I feel the same way you do" on it and showed it to the girl he cared about. But the bliss caused by their declaration of love was cut painfully short by a fit of rage caused by the dark energy in Yuki's body, causing her to scream and claw at the glass furiously.

While it wasn't really Yuki talking it did upset Gentaro a good deal. But as soon as it happened Yuki was herself again, very upset at herself for what she did, although it wasn't her fault. But Gentaro just smiled and placed a hand on the tube, letting her know that he loved her and that he would be by her side. He would never let his anger get the better of him ever again.

As Tojiro and Yuki drifted off to sleep as luck would have it in Ben's universe the alarm went off, hurting JK's ears. A holo-screen hummed to life and showed a map of all seven continents of Earth, with a flashing red dot on London. A smaller screen then blipped in from the dot and showed Gen and Ben that Vilgax was attacking the people of London, trying to get to somewhere important to him, but where and why? That didn't matter to Azmuth right now. What mattered was saving lives. "You mission is to stop Vilgax from gaining ground in London. Both Tojiro and Yuki will be monitored by Manny and Julie so focus on your mission. Don't fail these people" he told the two boy matter of factly. Ben was used to how Azmuth dealt with crises but Gentaro wasn't too pleased with Azmuth's bluntness. Having to drag the Rider out wasn't how he wanted to get him out before he said something he would regret, but it was the quickest way. Trust wasn't something Azmuth gave out freely and even harder to regain as Ben found out the hard way. Better Gen stay on his good side then deal with an unhappy Gavan.

Though the runway was cleared no ship could make it fast enough to get there on time. But Ben and Gen didn't need a Plumber ship. Though Gentaro has the Cosmic Switch it wasn't usable now since his freinds were not totally well and he unsure about how they're doing right now. But he had a backup Switch: The S-1 Rocket Switch Nadeshiko made for him before her passing. She wasn't dead as Gentaro knew but her physical body was converted to the SOLU Switch and then destroyed, regrettably by the hands of himself and Kamen Rider OOO. With the Mega Burgermeal Foodriod the propriety of the Club the S-1 Switch was the only thing he had left of her. He would treasure it forever but now he had no choice to call upon its powers. Setting it into the Fourze Driver he transformed into Fourze and activated the S-1 Switch, turning his white suit orange. Now as Rocket States, with the Gyro, Drill and Sheath Switches in the driver should he need them he brought the two Rocket Modules to life and flew down to where the action was as Ben, in the form of Cannonbolt flew close by him as they reentered the atmosphere.

**As always feel free to let me know what you think in the review section!**


	12. London Bridges falling down Part 2

**DISCLAIMER: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners**

Chapter 12: London Bridges falling down Part 2

From high up one could easily see London as Hell on Earth due to Vilgax's attack on its fair soils. Fires raged uncontrolled as the people fled away from his enforcers: Driscoll aka Dark Aries and Zombozo aka Dark Taurus. So far no one was able to halt their rampage as Vilgax stood on Big Ben, well aware of the irony of starting his revenge on a 'Ben' had all 12 Horoscope Switches flying overhead, ready to bring about the Dark Nebula and doom the citizens to a most painful death.

But his gloating was cut short by the flaming form of Cannonbolt as he reentered Earth's atmosphere, knocking Vilgax painfully down back to the ground below. As Cannonbolt cooled down and unfurled himself he smiled gently at the children there as they cheered Ben. Fourze soon landed by his side as Ben reverted to human form and the children were right up in Gentaro's face, wanting to know just who is Ben's new friend is.

Vilgax however soon got up even though he was a great deal of pain. "Save your photo shoots until you're sure your enemy is DEAD!" he boomed as he fired off a Ruby Ray blast and threw a spear at the two heroes. But they both were more than ready for his assault as Gentaro blew the spear away with Gyro's Module and Ben blocked the beam with NRG's suit.

Vilgax's woes were then noticed by D. Aries and D. Taurus. While Vilgax is far from their friend and in Driscoll's case his former enemy, they still had to help him out. After all he did give them the power to take revenge on Ben, didn't he not?

"Ah, dear Ben. I had such a lovely time here but I must be on my way now. But be sure to greet my two new apostles. They're just dying to meet you!" Without truly meaning the first thing he said but slyly referring to the fact that Driscoll and Zombozo could die from overusing their Switches Vilgax flew away, leaving the two Dark Horoscopes alone to face their enemies.

"I may be a minotaur now but you always were the one will a lot of Bull!" Dark Taurus spat out hatefully as he charged at NRG, trying to gore him but failing as Ben fired off a heat attack from the faceplate of NRG's armor. As D. Taurus stepped back, his chest sizzling from Ben's blast he couldn't help but make the observation that he's now "smoking hot" to Dark Aries's annoyance.

"Have at thee, slayer of heroes! I shall mount you head on my mantle as proof of my superiority!" Dark Aries gloated as he swung **JASON,** his sword at NRG but it was blocked off by Fourze's Drill Module, causing sparks to fly before he backed away.

Gen knew that their new Dark Horoscopes were stronger than anything he ever fought before and that Ben, unpopular with him as he was, still needed help. Taking out the S-1 Switch and plugging in Elec he then powered up into his golden form, Billy the Rod at his side.

**"ELEC ON!**"

As Fourze Elec States sword fought with Dark Aries he couldn't help but think back to Ryusei, his friend and rival, Kamen Rider Meteor. To think that he needed the powers of the Aries Zodiart to save his friend and that Emoto, the Virgo Zodiart, was helping him with that. A lot had happed to them all when they found Aries' Switcher, but odder still was now he was fighting his successor in a universe that was only a fictional world to him back home. But his lack of concentration on the battle was going to cost him and Ben knew it.

"HEY! Doofus, pay attention here! That's the Forever King you're fighting and he's still kinda mad at me for George's death" Ben shouted at the Rider. Gen wasn't pleased at Ben's bluntness, but he was thankful that he was warned fast enough to roll from a strike that would have taken off his head. As D. Aries attempted to stab Fourze he used Shield to stop his attack, to Driscoll's fury.

As NRG and D. Taurus wrestled with each other the London Bridge was starting to give way due to the damage it had taken during Vilgax's assault. As it was slowly falling apart the people on it were screaming in utter terror, too frightened to get off in time. "It looks like their party is going to go out to sea, but I can still shake things up a bit" Dark Taurus joked as he stomped the ground below him, causing a shockwave to knock three people over the sides to their deaths as the others were just thankfully knocked down. "AW! I think they don't want to dance anymore. But they do need to cool off and what better way than to go for swim?" Dark Taurus said as he laughed evilly.

Ben could stand no more of Dark Taurus's madness. As he went from NRG to Fourarms he began to punch the Horoscope with absolute fury. It's bad enough he killed people this day, but to laugh about it like it was nothing?! Ben could never forgive something so horrible. " I'm gonna turn you into tenderized beef!" he growled at Dark Taurus.

"Ah ah ah, you should know that if you mess with a bull, you get it HORNS!" as D. Taurus stabbed Fourarms' shoulders with his sharp horns. As blood leaked out of the wounds onto his green striped shirt Ben grabbed the horns with his lower arms and broke them off, causing Dark Taurus to howl in pain.

"Gee, thanks for the horns. But I don't really want em, although I did mess with ya!" as Fourzrms threw them over the London Bridge. While his tone was joking Ben's face was showing his true emotions. With a scowl he Big Clapped Dark Taurus's head, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Before he could regain his bearings Fourarms picked him up and started to spin him around. "Everyone get off the bridge now! I don't know how much longer it's gonna hold!" he warned the survivors as they finally ran off to safety. Ben really didn't want to do this but Dark Taurus left him no choice. The London Bridge was too far gone to save and he couldn't help but wonder if under all that Cosmic Energy was Zombozo, a foe that terrified him due to his Coulrophobia back when he 10 years old. But he wanted to know before he finished him off so he asked, "Is that you Zombozo?" The zombie clown started to laugh that creepy laugh of his and Ben knew it from the bottom of his heart: This is the same monster that tried to kill Gwen, who laughed when innocent people died earlier today. Ben knew for a long time that there was a death warrant out on Zombozo's head, but up until now he never wanted to really kill his enemies.

But things were different now. Now his enemies were willing to harm other people in other dimensions. They were now capable of destroying whatever they wanted to now with their new powers. As his grip on Dark Taurus tightened Zombozo knew that Ben was now willing to kill him. He cried out "PLEASE BEN, NO! I'm sorry about Gwen! I'm sorry about your poor, sweet mother! PLEASE DON"T KILL ME!" but his pleading was on deaf ears as Ben slammed his head down onto the Bridge, ending his life and his reign of terror once and for all. As Zombozo reverted to him normal form and evaporated to stardust Ben changed to Jetray and flew off the Bridged before it sank into the waters below.

As the people cheered Ben on for saving him he felt sick to his stomach. He never killed anyone before and it made him very upset. But still there was the thought that now no one else will suffer at Zombozo's hands ever again. Still in Jetray form Ben flew to where Fourze and Dark Aries were still fighting and it was looking bad for Gentaro. A bloody gash was on the arm that held Circle Modules and Gen was getting woozy from lack of blood, Driscoll would not let him be so he can heal with the Medical Module. Ben shot his eyebeams at D. Aries's back and he soon turned around to see Jetray flying just overhead.

"COWARD! You dare to strike a Knight in the back while he's in combat? You will die this day, Ben Tennyson!" as he changed ** Jason **to **Coppelius **and started to blast out wave after wave of sand, hoping to catch the boy in a wave, but Gentaro knew that his sand attack would only send him to sleep. But he would not let D Aries get that chance at he slashed the tip off **Coppelius,** as Dark Aries switched to Supernova form and fired off orbs of energy at Fourze as he used Hopping to get onto a lamppost before prepping the Elec and Drill Switches for the finishing strike

**"ELEC ON!"**

**"DRILL ON!"**

_**"LIMIT BREAK!"**_

_"Rider Lighting Drill Kick!"_

As Fourze descended on Dark Aries, the Drill Module crackling with electricity he did a battle cry as the attack hit dead on, causing the Horoscope to blow up and Driscoll to return to human form. As Gen and Ben returned to normal Ben gave the Forever King this warning:

"Sir George died to give you and everyone else on Earth a life free from Diagon. I'll let you go this time but I want to let you know that George didn't die by hand. Diagon was his true killer. So if you can let everyone of your knight buddies know that I would be very grateful about that, OK?" Driscoll knew that he lost this day and gave Ben a curt "Thank you" before starting the long walk back to the main base of the Forever Knights.

All that fighting and the reenter stunt he pulled was too much for the ill Ben as he went on one knee and coughed up more blood. Gentaro ran to where he was and asked, "Ben! Are you alright? You should have never went with me. I should have been a better friend and fought them myself." But Ben just raised his hand and told him this:

"I knew that the life of a hero wasn't going to be easy. But just knowing that people are safe and sound, that they have a hero to look up to and keep them OK, is all the thanks I really need" Gentaro was moved to tears by his statement. It was becoming more and more clear that the dreams of both the Plumbers and the Kamen Riders weren't so different after all. But now he was feeling worse than ever before. He endangered his friends to attack a true hero and one who was dying on top of that. Worse still was the fact that he wasn't by Yuki's side right now. Although he knew she understands that it's Gentaro's job to protect people he still felt lousy about not being there with her right now.

As Gen was stewing in his own misery Ben placed a arm around the Rider. "Look, girls can be odd at times. But if there's anything that makes them happier than anything else, it's a man who puts others before themselves. You'll make a great boyfriend to her, dude" Ben comforted Gen. Gentaro was stunned that Ben knew about what he 'said' to Yuki, but he was pleased that Ben would support him in his new relationship. "People think I'm not paying attention, but I am" Ben slyly answered.

As they waited to be picked up Ben said," I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship"

_Meanwhile..._

Vilgax wasn't sad about Zombozo's death nor Driscolll's defection. He still had all 12 Switches and he still had his plan. When all 12 Dark Horoscopes were defeated he would be able to use them all to become the **Circle Zodiarts,** the one who shall have all the powers of the **ecliptic** **constellations.** "Soon" he thought to himself, "I shall rule over all!" He would let no one stop his quest, not Ben nor his odd little friend who claims to be 'everyone's friend'. Oh, how he waited for this day to come. Ben would die one way or the other and he would finally be overlord of all things! Laughing madly he raised his fist to his believed victory.

**Let me know if things need improving or if you liked or disliked this story or any chapters in the Reviews section!**


	13. Dying Will

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners**

**AN:** I have no plans to do a Gokaiger Xover. Right now I'm brainstorming a Kanon fanfic where one of the girls becomes a werefox.

Chapter 13: Dying Will

Being Dark Gemini did nothing to change the hate Will felt towards Ben. To think that a such a dangerous child would get a weapon of mass destruction and be a role model for children the world over! Will hated that no matter what he did Ben got off scott free. But after he destroyed the London Bridge he got an idea. He needed Overlord or rather Dark Pisces's help but the two of them got along well. If this works he may get rid of Ben 10 yet.

_Early morning, Bellwood_

Manny was quite pleased with himself. Having the idea that everyone would switch out doing chores was a stroke of genius on his part. After having meatless breakfasts for the last week he was now able to do the meal he wanted.

"Breakfast is served! It's full of meaty goodness!" he beamed as the aroma drifted to his nose. On each plate was a few strips of candied bacon, toast, honey ham slices, breakfast sausages and pancetta. It was his ideal breakfast meal, but to the others it wasn't all that great.

While Erin was a American be birth she never enjoyed bacon all that much. Just the smell of it made her ill and here was a good size portion of it on her plate. "Couldn't you added some fruit instead of the bacon? I don't think I can eat this" she stated, not bothering to hide her disgust with Manny's cooking.

JK tried a slice of candied bacon and wanted to spit it out. But the sight of the Tetramand told him to be polite and swallow it, albeit not by his complete choice. "It's delicious, Manny-san. You really outdid yourself today" he outright lied to him. Manny brought it however to JK's relief and he reluctantly ate some more of the meal.

Ran, Tojiro and Julie were trying to eat this meal with insentient but their faces were saying a different tune. Manny can cook very well but his foods of choice were not ones they themselves enjoyed all that much and in Julie's case outright hated. Yuki and Gentaro noticed that if they ate faster then they would be able to leave that much faster. But this was far from the Japanese breakfasts they enjoyed back home but it was against their customs to just throw it away.

Yuki was about ready to barf due to all the greasy meats she had to eat. Motioning to Gen that she had to go to a bathroom he honored her request. "Yuki-chan wishes to use the bathroom. Is that OK with you, Manny-san?" Gentaro asked politely.

"It's no thing at all! You shouldn't even have to ask! After all we're young adults here!" Manny cheerfully answered. But his good mood was ended by Yuki ralphing on the floor, the food too much for her delicate stomach to take. "I guess you don't like bacon as much as I do" he nervously chuckled as he wiped up the mess with a washcloth. Yuki thanked him for cleaning up her sick then when to the bathroom to freshen up.

Ben was still in bed after his busy day. He wasn't feeling good, but for once it wasn't just his cellular breakdown causing his illness. He felt horrible about killing Zombozo yesterday even though he had a warrant for his death and it was obvious that he would never be redeemed. Still he wasn't feeling hungry and Manny's bacon was just making it worse. As he pulled the covers over his head Yuki went in to check in on the sick Plumber. "I heard about what happened with Zombozo. Nobody blames you for what you had to do, but he was so far gone I doubt anyone would have been able to reach him" she comforted the young hero.

"T-'cough'_Thanks, Yuki" Ben got out with some difficultly. Yuki may be overly fond of space at times but she was one of the nicest people you can ever meet. She smiled warmly at him as Julie went to check on her boyfriend, her face a bit green from Manny's cooking.

"Ben, I talked with your parents about yesterday and they don't blame you for what happened out there. Your mom told her that they wanted to let you know that they love you no matter what and that you'll get better soon. Although they don't know about how bad things really are for you" she choked out the last sentence with extreme emotional pain as so far no Earthlings other than Max, Gwen, Kevin and herself knew about Ben's terminal illness. Julie then couldn't hold in her sadness anymore and broke down crying as Yuki hugged her, upset that she could do nothing to help out Ben. Gentaro went up to check up on the trio and seeing how bad things were in there broke his heart.

As he rubbed Yuki's head to comfort her he told Ben "We won't let you die like this. It's the code of the Kamen Rider to do anything to save the lives of the innocent. Plus now I know that you're a good friend. The way you treat your buddies is something that warms my heart. You have the soul of a Rider and I should have never had tried to hurt you" he quietly told him. Ben however was happy to hear that from him.

"It's no biggie. I think we both messed up and now we're going to work past that. Because that's what friends do for each other" he answered. Their hearts full of emotion Gentaro and Yuki hugged the ill Plumber and soon bygones were finally bygones. "Now that we have this out of our hair we should have some fun. I don't wanna just lay on my bed and die! We should totally hit the arcade and just rock out!"

After Ben had said what they were going to do everyone was on their merry way. Perhaps Tojiro was the happiest of all since Ben told him that there were plenty of guitar games there and he knew that if given the chance he can be a great musician. Hearing that from Ben made Tojiro quite pleased and he was ready to get his rock on! But what he saw made his heart sink: on the doors was a sign that said "CLOSED DUE TO NATIONAL EMERGENCY" in bright red letters.

"AW c'mon! You'd think that with all the alien bullshit that goes on here they'd be open more often!" Tojiro raged. JK tried to calm him down but the rocker was in a state of anger that was upsetting Julie. Ran however just grabbed his arm and twisted it, bringing him back down to a calm state of mind.

"Try to keep in mind that these people haven't seen Zodiarts before. So try to think about others before you run your stupid mouth off" Ran scolded. Tojiro was not pleased with being told off by a younger student but knew deep down that she was right. However they were no Zodiarts in sight.

"Perhaps there could be a gas leak or something else we don't know about" Erin calmly inquired about their odd situation. But what she said caused Yuki to freak out a little bit, worried that she might be in danger from the gas that might be very real and very deadly. Holding onto her fellow student gently she told Yuki that "If there is anything wrong I'm sure we can fix it. After all we're friends, right?" Yuki calmed down and the two girls hugged, knowing that they're safe as long as they believe in each other and their friendship.

But a sharp sound broke the tranquil moment they were sharing with each other. The voice on the other end was one that Ben knew all too well: Will Harange!

_"For some time now I warned you all about Ben Tennyson being a danger to everyone around him. But even I never would have guessed he's destroy both the London Bridge and the life of Zombozo so easily and without any remorse. Due to the seriousness of this situation I ask that everyone remain in their homes while we run checks on the general populace for any contamination from Ben. We ask that you remain calm and do as you're asked in a prompt and orderly manner. That is all."_

Ben was furious! Will was a bigger threat to the people of Bellwood and he knew it! Who in their right mind would create a killer robot that attacked whoever it pleases just for ratings? The guests from another world were worried too, as Julie filled them in on how unstable Harange really was.

JK was the first to speak up about this grim bit of news. "I think we should look around and see if there's anyone out right now. The more people we ask, the more likely we can solve this without insentient."

Gentaro liked that idea a good deal. JK wasn't the bravest person he knew but he was one of the more social aware KRC members. Soon all of them nodded their approval of his plan and were about to set off in search of any info that may be useful. But a scream of terror cut that hunt short.

"That came from our high school!" Julie cried out with worry.

_A few minutes later..._

Cash and JT were stunned at he sight before them both. Here was both Will Harange, a total jerkstore reporter and Captain Nemesis, the disgraced former hero, working together with Psyphon of all people! Not only that but they were forcing their fellow classmates to try and turn on these weird looking 'Switches' to become...Zodiacs or some darn thing. So far they had no luck and it was showing on Psyphon's face.

"Is it bad enough that these children have no potential to evolve past their humanity AND be eternal thorns in my side as well?" he bemoaned, fists clenched by his sides in frustration. So far every one that tried to switch on a Horoscopes Switch was lying down in pain or knocked out cold. Thankfully no one was killed but since there were so few students left that haven't tried yet that may soon change.

However before he could hand a Switch to JT Psyphon was attacked by ArmorDrillo. Dodging his drill punch he jumped back and scowled at the alien form that Ben was. "Must you ruin everything that my master plans?!" Psyphon cursed at ArmorDrillo as the others approached.

"Yet, pretty much" ArmorDrillo quipped, paying no mind to Psyphon's anger. "But I can make things work out, am I right?" he said at no one in particular. Emily, who was in the group with Cash and JT flipped Ben the finger. "I'll take that as a no" Ben said with some disappointment.

Ran stomped over to where Will was standing and was going to give this man a piece of her mind. "Do you think you can order students around because you're older?" she raged at reporter. To her disgust he told her "Yes I do. Young people like you have no will of your own to make enlightened decisions for yourselves. But we are only doing this for your own good and when Ben's dead and buried then you can live your lives however you want to" In fury Ran struck Will in the face, knocking out a tooth and sending him down. Ran didn't care that he was a reporter, as she hated when older people felt the need to lord over and bully those they feel weaker than themselves. That was part of how Haru became the Musca Zodiarts and nearly brought their friendship to an end. Ran didn't want these people to suffer the fate that almost befell them both.

Will was furious at this girl for striking him down. Dusting himself off he shouted at Overlord to transform and deal with these intruders. Now in the form of Dark Gemini Will threw cards at Ran, trying to kill her but ArmorDrillo blocked them off, but not without some pain on his end.

Gentaro was already Fourze and listening to Yuki's advice to transform early was paying off as Dark Pisces was attempting to gore him with **Eros**. his harpoon. But Gen was able to dodge with the Wheel and Stealth Modules, causing the monster form of Overlord to fall over and hit the ground hard.

"If you wish to challenge someone then fight with someone who can defend himself!" Fourze barked at D. Pisces. Overlord then kneeled down and tried to use his water cutter to decapitate the Rider but Fourze dodge rolled from the attack as it hit the wall, phasing out without a fuss. Switching Rocket for the Fire Switch Gentaro changed to Fire States and shot fireballs at Dark Pisces, burning his Zodiart hide.

On Ben's side things weren't looking so good. Dark Gemini kept spawning clones with his Supernova and having them attack Ben, then when they were all over him blew up, causing his yellow armor to sizzle. Thinking that Ben was dead Will approached the limp form of ArmorDrillo but was caught off guard when Ben went into the form of Echo Echo. Before he could counterattack Ben screamed at him, damaging his form and hurting his ears.

Over to the side Julie could not help but feel sick and it wasn't because of Manny's cooking. Echo Echo was the form that nearly ruined their relationship together and every time he saw this form she felt like something would go wrong at just the wrong time. This was noticed by Erin as she wanted to know why Julie was acting this way around a form of Ben's

"It's because there's some bad memories involved with Echo Echo. I don't really care for this alien all that much anyway" Julie stated to Erin. But deep down Julie knew that wasn't the total truth. She was so hellbent on making Ben stay and watch her first professional game over stopping the Forever Knights that he did what he did. Granted he should have been honest about seeing the Sumo Slammers movies first and foremost but she knew that it was partly her fault that happened. She was stubborn and headstrong and she was willing to admit that she can be rather selfish at times. But she was working on improving herself and trying to better herself. Sure it was hard but everything worthwhile is that way.

Meanwhile Ben and Gen's battles weren't going over so well for them. Dark Gemini's cards and clones kept Echo Echo's clones and sonic wails at bay and Dark Pisces' water form and attack were easily countering Fire States' every move. As the two boys rolled over to each other Ben got an idea.

" I was thinking we should switch dance partners, what do you say about that chum?" he asked. Gentaro nodded his approval to the plan and went after the other's opponent.

"Do you think that attacking another foe will do you any good, you foolish child?" Dark Pisces mocked Ben as he screamed at him with his sonic voice. But the Dark Horoscope was caught off guard by the fact that there nothing physical to counter, rendering his water power useless against Echo Echo. Trying to escape he turned into his liquid form and leapt into a nearly pond.

Ben wasn't a straight-A student but he knew that sound travels better in liquids than air and Overlord made a HUGE tactical error on his part. Cloning himself until there was around 20 Echo Echoes they all placed their heads underwater and screamed. The sonic bombardment was too much for Overlord as he resolidifiled in pain, leaving him open to a finishing blow from the boy that believed he was a true hero.

Recombining and changing to AmpFibian Ben grabbed onto Dark Pisces and shocked him until he was back to human form. As Overlord ejected his damaged armor he tried to run away but Ran body slammed him down, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Soon AmpFibian was shadowing him and the jellyfish-like form made him nervous.

"Just why did you do this, Nesmith? I thought you were going to get clean for Jennifer but here I find you working for Vilgax and harming my fellow students?! Were you ever a real hero or was it all for fame?!" he snapped at Overlord, causing him to flinch out of reflex. But soon he regained his bearings and stood up to talk to Ben.

Breathing in some air he answered "There was a time that I really wanted to do good for the world. Just seeing people safe and happy was enough for me. But time and age catches up to all of us and soon my heart grew cold. I was willing to send Computron after the people I saved just to try and regain my fame. I drove Jennifer Nocturne to Stockholm syndrome and killed because I was so far gone that every face was a blur to me. But something happened that I never planned for: she truly fell in love with me and I returned those feelings. So where she got hurt during our last battle I couldn't stand to see her like this. So I took full responsibility for my actions and went back to jail, but I was still angry at you after all that happened. Hated blinds even the wisest men and when Vilgax offered me power I was foolish and accepted, not caring who I was hurting. But perhaps there may be peace for me yet." As Ben and Ran looked on they saw that the body of Carl Nesmith AKA Captain Nemesis AKA Overlord AKA Dark Pisces was crumbling to stardust.

But he looked totally at peace with himself. Ran however was on the verge of tears. "Please, let us save you! The Plumbers can help you stop this! You can be free of this!" she sobbed. But Carl just looked at her and stroked her hair. While Ran normally doesn't like older people touching her without her consent she was willing to let this slide.

"I am free now. Tell Jennifer that she deserves better that some old fool." He turned to Ben and for the first time since that fateful tug-of-war game that started all this nonsense in their lives they were willing to be civil with each other. "Ben, I'm sorry. You're more of a hero than I'll ever be. Please keep protecting the people of Earth, the planet we both love" With his final words the stardust that was once Ben's childhood hero drifted away into the wind. Ran was sobbing into Erin's arms as Ben went back to his human form and saluted the fallen hero.

Just a short while back Dark Gemini was having a fit with Fourze Fire States. His damned flamethrower kept his card attack from hitting and his clones were shot down by the Launcher and Gattling Modules. Plus when he tried to punch Fourze he kept striking the Shield Module, causing his knuckles to bleed under his Zodiart form. 'How can this child be smarter and stronger than me?', he thought to himself.

As if Gen could read minds he answered, "Because I believe in the youths of this day. Sure we may screw up and do stupid things but that why we have older people to look after us and help make us into better people. It is my hope that I can make friends with everyone and better all of our lives! Because we are stronger when we cover our weaknesses and improve our strengths instead of doing things alone. When we have friends that love and support us then we can make our dreams reach out into space itself!" he proudly exclaimed as the other Kamen Rider Club member cheered him on. Cash booed him as he thought what Gentaro believes is corny but Emily and JT punched him in the gut to shut him up.

Will was dumbstruck! To think that some teenager was the better man than himself, a respected reporter and journalist! "How dare you insult me, you bastard?! I'll kill you for your insolence!" Yuki tried to warn him about letting his anger get the better of him but the blood pounding in his ear blocked out all sound from reaching his brain. As Dark Gemini charged toward Fourze, not aware of the change going on in his body Fourze prepped a attack that can reach though whatever Will can dish out.

**"Claw on!"**

**"Chainsaw on!**

A small mob of Dark Gemini clones was now by Will's side, each roaring madly like wild dogs. But Gen wasn't worried at all.

**"Spike on!"**

**"Scissors on"**

_**"Limit Break!"**_

_"Rider Buzzsaw _Spinner_!" _With four of his most painful Modules at his side Gentaro began to spin around like the buzzsaws of the attack's namesake and tore through all the clones before hitting the real Dark Gemini, causing everyone present to winch at how painful that must of hurt. But the aftermath was something that no one expected, least of all Will himself. Before him was another Will Harange, only with a eerily white mask on his face. As he looked on in fear he wondered if perhaps Vilgax played them all for something that they didn't know as the clone ran out to parts unknown.

Gentaro powered down and hugged Yuki, who was in a state of shock from this happening again. If Gen didn't defeat the first Gemini when he did then the darkside that came out would drain away everything that make her Yuki Jojima until one of them was dead. Thankfully Gentaro stopped Dark Yuki from rampaging and returned all of her lifeforce to her, but she was worried about Will. What fate befell the corrupt man now that the darkness that was himself is now out in the world for all to see?

But Will wasn't worried at all. Every one of the Kamen Rider Club shouted that he needed to stop his darkside before it took everything from him but he just sneered at them and walked off, not caring about what they wanted to tell him.

"Gen-chan, I'm worried about Will. Do you think we can save him?" she asked, fear pregnant in her voice. But Ben stepped in and answered her question for her.

"I don't think we can save Will from himself. Trust me, I tried" he told her sadly.

As all of the group looked on at the man walking away they wondered if he knew that he was in laymen's terms, a dead man walking in both senses of the meaning. Cash and JT were confused about all of this but figured they can ask Ben later when things have cooled down.

_24 hours later..._

It was quite a shock for the young couple to find a body with a ghastly white mask just by the spot they were making out by, paying no mind to the note he held in his dead hand.

Please help me! He took my face and now he wishes to have my life! He gave away my Switch to Vilgax so I couldn't stop this! If anyone is reading this please help me!

But no one would ever read that depredate note that the real Will Harange wrote in his final hour of life. To the general public it was some homeless man's mad rambling. Because they were watching the latest news report from Will Harange now.

"I must apologize for the attacks on the student body caused by some madman thinking he was me. I hope that a issue like this will never happen again and I hope to regain you trust. I sadly must report that Captain Nemesis has passed away yesterday from causes unknown to modern science, but we will have more on this story as we gain more info on this"

When it was time for a commercial 'Will' stepped out for some fresh air. He was pleased that the body of the Will Harange he was trapped in was dead and he was now free. As he looked on at the night sky he wondered now that he gave away his Switch to Vilgax what will he do with his life now.

Perhaps rethink his plan of attack on Ben Tennyson. After all now that his 'good side' is gone he could really cause some damage! But first he always wanted to go to Bora Bora. He heard it was quite lovely this time of year...

**Remember I always love to read new reviews from your guys! Updates are going to be a bit slower due to my work schedule changing but I do plan on finishing this story. Please be patient with me until then.**


	14. Lost Hope part 1

**Disclaimer: ALL CHARACTERS AND THEMES ARE THE PROPITRY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.**

Chapter 14: Lost Hope Part 1

It was late at night and the moon was full. It casted its beautiful light over everything it touched as it shone in the night sky. But two people couldn't care less about the moon tonight.

Emoto hated the moon. It reminded him of his folly over siding with Gamou over using the safer Fourze system as well as the fact that in a sense he was the Moon to Utahoshi's Earth and Gamou's Sun, paling to them both but reflecting the light off of the Sun. Even though he was no longer the dreaded Virgo Zodiarts he was still Tachibana, the man who fought against the evils of the Horoscopes to give humanity the freedom to live life as it saw fit. Being in a whole other universe would never change that fact and Ryusei was long overdue for a check-in.

As he tweaked the monitor Azmuth gave him he tried to tune in the frequency of his home dimension but was having little to no luck with the endeavor. 'It seems technology is the same no matter where you go: You can't live without it but it never works when you need it too' he mused to himself. But he was patient and soon enough he was about to make contact. Donning a new Tachibana helmet he menially readied himself for the upcoming trasmission...

_The universe of the Kamen Riders, Super Sentai and Metal Heroes..._

Ryusei was at a viewing screen in the Rabbit Hutch, with only a sleeping Tomoko at his side. It had been over three weeks since Gen, Yuki and the others have vanished and while Zodiart attacks were rarely happening now that the Horoscopes were gone he still can't help but wonder what the point was of all of this.

Soon his Meteor Switch buzzed with news of a transmission from Tachibana. Tomoko purred contently, the noise not bothering her in the slightest. To think that this was the woman who would be his girlfriend or so she thought. Truth be told Ryu wasn't ready for that to happen, at least not yet. Placing the Switch in a slot he was greeted by the cold steel gaze of Tachibana.

"It's good to see you Ryusei. But I can't help but wonder if you have lost your focus" he mocked the fighter as he saw that he was letting Tomoko rest her head on his lap. Normally Ryusei would be ready to say that he was focused on the mission at hand, but his mission had been finished a while ago. He found the Switcher of Aries and saved his friend, but lost so much during that time. To think that he was tricked into killing Gentaro and almost letting Aries kill the rest of the Kamen Rider Club. But as if by some miracle Gen came back to life and defeated Aries, saving not only everyone there that fateful day but Ryusei's soul as well.

"I wasn't aware that I still had a mission" he retorted, angry that Tachibana doubted him still. Still he had a valid point as Ryusei often lets his emotions get the better of him at times. But now wasn't the time to argue with his employer. "Is there anything I should know about?" Ryusei asked.

"Yes. All 12 Horoscope Switchers have been found. A unknown factor calling himself 'Vilgax' came to this dimension and captured the remaining members. We then crossed over to his home dimension when they were forced to battle his nemesis, Ben. But apart from one fatality all captives are safe. But they are unable to come back until the threat is neutralized" Tachibana stated matter of factly.

"Can you identify the Switchers?" Ryu questioned his employer. Soon a list of names was brought up for his 'viewing pleasure'.

TATSUMORI YAMADA: ARIES. STATIS: COMATOSE

YUTA SUGIURA: TAURUS. STATIS: DECEASED

YUKI JOJIMA: GEMINI. STATIS: RETURNED TO HUMAN STATE

NATSUJI KIJIMA: CANCER. STATIS: DECEASED

KOU TATSUGAMI: LEO. STATIS: DECEASED

KURITERU EMOTO/TACHIBANA: VIRGO. STATIS: RETURNED TO HUMAN STATE

KOUHEI HAYAMI: LIBRA. STATIS: DECEASED

SARINA SONODA: SCORPION. STATIS: DECEASED

MITUAKI GAMOU: SAGITARRIUS. STATIS: DECEASED

TOJIRO GOTO: CAPRICORN: STATIS: RETURNED TO HUMAN STATE

ERIN SUDA: AQUARIUS. STATIS: RETURNED TO HUMAN STATE

RAN KUROKI: PISCES. STATIS: RETURNED TO HUMAN STATE.

Ryusei was in total disbelief. School facility were the first Horoscopes and that they needed his fellow students to evolve the Switches to reach a 'Dark Nebula 'and that the one he heard about was just the ? What hit harder still was the fact that Yuki and Ran, his fellow Club members were forced to mutating into the very monsters they swore to fight against. But when the fact that Tachibana outright lied to him Ryusei was a man possessed by rage.

But he would remain civil even if he was enraged right now. "Why help me if you were Virgo, the right man of Sagittarius?" he choked out, trying to not wake up his reluctant girlfriend. To his surprise Tachibana took off his helmet and the face of the kindly Emoto was facing him now.

"Because I was the one who stated all of this. I let my anger at being overshadowed overrule my better judgment and killed my best friend and let Gamou harm others while I was taking part in all of this. But I soon began to regret my part in all this. So during any free time I had I created your Meteor arsenal as well as the Gate Switch for assisting Kengo. The truth of the matter is I wanted to stop Gamou as much as any of you but as he was my friend I was forced to keep my cover until Vilgax played his hand and killed half of the members. Thankfully I was able to gain some allies and was able to cure the remaining members, although I doubt the Aries Switcher will survive." Emoto took a deep breath and continued, with Ryu watching silently. "I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm too far gone for that. But I do must ask of you to keep the others safe and I promise you I will bring them home." With that Emoto ended the conversation.

Ryu was a state of shock. Not only were the missing students mostly safe but as it turns out Tachibana wasn't a total asshole. As Tomoko stirred, the emotionally news hitting her rather hard he wondered how in the hell he would break the news to the remaining KRC members.

_The universe of Ben 10, a world thought of only as a fictional world...until now._

As she sat on a swing and watched the moon as she swung back and forth Hope thought back to a time when she wasn't Charmcaster, the woman that killed 600,000 to bring back the father she missed so dearly. But those times weren't coming back and she knew it. Holding the Dark Virgo Switch she remembered how much her father loved the moon and how much it broke his heart that he wasn't able to see his daughter off as he spending his last moments fighting... she couldn't even think of his name, it upsets her too much!

"I'm so sorry daddy. I guess I'm not your little girl anymore. Just another tyrant that the Plumbers have to deal with" she sobbed. The pain that went with being a ruler that everyone feared was too much for her to bear so she left without so much as a word. "I know you can't forgive me and I know that from the bottom of my heart. But please don't hate me for what I am forced to do for Vilgax" Hope croaked out, the very thought of fighting for Vilgax making her sick to her stomach. But the only thing she thought she had left was her rivalry with Ben, but over the years it became something more. She was in love in with now and despite the fact that she was three years older than him that never mattered to her. To think it happened that fast, to have those feeling brought before her.

_About five years ago..._

The people were running in absolute terror from Charmcaster but she didn't care. Hex needed the money so they could buy a home of their own, but given their criminal records that was something easily said than done. So she was forced to rob and harm the innocent, the very things she told her father she'd never do. Funny how life on the lab changes you, even if you don't want to.

But she wanted to be a great magician and if you want to be that you needed to give a show and give a show she did. "Aw ha ha ha ha! Flee from the might of magic!" she boasted without really meaning it. The truth was, all she wanted was friends. But what came out from far from that. It was Ben.

"Give it up you ugly witch! Ya know you can't beat the best!" the child gloated. Hope's face grew hot from her anger at the boy's rudeness and if his family wouldn't teach him manners then it would fall upon her to do so. In anger she blasted a bolt of power from her hands but Ben was ready to counter her attack. Slapping down his Omnitrix he became something she never saw before and when you're not from anywhere other than the birthplace of mana, that's saying a lot.

"Feedback!" The jester looking thing caught her shot in his hand and fired it off back at her, only to hit a shield she made out of stone and terror. As the alien ran towards her Hope saw her life flashing before her eyes. She didn't want to die, not like this!

But Ben was not going to even harm her. He just drained away the energy that was by her feet, stopping her protection spell, but she didn't think he would show her mercy. "Please, Ben, no" she whimpered. But Feedback just said this to her

"I don't understand magic all that much but you have a real talent for it. Maybe if you keep your nose clean you have a future away from all this nonsense. Maybe even be a Plumber and fight the bad guys instead of being a bad guy!"

Hope was quite pleased to hear that. Not having Gwen around made things easier to deal with and she felt something in her heart. Could had it been love? She didn't know it at the time as she caused more destruction than she intended. The ceiling was about to fall on a family that was caught in the crossfire and she could do nothing to stop it. She wasn't strong enough back then.

Feedback ran over to them and tried to hold on while they escaped, not bothering to look back at the young mage. Just when they were out the ceiling fell onto Ben as a green light flashed to Hope's horror. She was so frightened that she even wanted Gwen to be there, even though she hated her guts. But nothing was stirring in that pile of rocks and plaster and she thought that she killed the great hero Ben Tennyson. Falling to her knees she looked on at the site, not sure on what to do for Ben. But when things were looking their darkest something happened.

To her crying eyes she saw something moving, but what? Right before her the form of Fourarms arose triumphantly from the wreckage, arms flexed in a winner's pose.

'Sure Ben was riddled with ego problems but you have to admit he was a true hero' Hope thought to herself. But she had enough excitement for one day and with a common smoke bomb fled the scene of the crime, cash in tow.

_Back to the present day..._

Darkstar couldn't help himself. The moonlight shining on her silver hair, the smell of her, just the very thought that they were working together was quite pleasing to DarkStar. She was beautiful and more importantly to him his meal ticket. Despite having been raised around heroic Plumbers his whole life he always craved power over all else and he never though much of women as he firmly believed in the "Mother/Whore" mentality that disgusted nearly everyone he knew. But he couldn't care less. Now he had access to mana and the means to kill Ben and his new, if strange as all get out, friends.

He could picture it now, his face and health restored and with all those he considered fools worshipping him like the god he saw himself as. But he was willing to wait until the morning, when people were at their weakest. Sure it was unsporting, but he cared nothing about honor nor the feelings of those he hurt. Perhaps when Ben is dead he will go after Gwen and Kevin next as they flew to where Ben and the others were just about to start a brand new day...

To be continued...

**Let me know what you thought of this chapter in the review section!**


	15. Lost Hope part 2

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners**

Chapter 15: Lost Hope part 2

Manny loved getting up early in the morning. Not having Ben's new touchy feely friends awake was something that he needed. Yuki and Erin were alright, but when space is brought up they go wild over every little tidbit they can find. Erin is more level headed, if she did have a temper on her, while Yuki is creative and fun loving, though she panics way too easily. Not to mention Ran and Tojiro. Ran is loving and a great fighter from seeing her practice but she does not liked to be touched unless she tells you it's OK, which is rather hard sometimes and Tojiro, while friendly and carefree was LOUD.

"Awwww! The best part of waking up is no one in my-" but his sentence was cut short by Gentaro's greeting. Out of all of them he was the loudest but he was a friendly guy who makes time for his pals. Still this was Manny time, not KRC time and he wanted Gen to know that.

"Yo man, don't you get enough of me during the day? I kinda need my Me time, buddy" Manny gritted though his teeth. But Gen would have none of that.

"I don't know when we will have to part ways. So we shall stay together as long as we can so we'll have wonderful memories to look back on" Gentaro somberly answered. So he polity gestured Manny back to the house when it was now a hotbed of activity.

_Inside..._

Tojiro and JK were hard at work making a new song. It wasn't for fame, but for the first time in a long time just for fun. It had a good beat to it, Manny thought, but it needed a good bit of work done before it would be a great song. But the two of them didn't care about that at all.

"Ha HA! Nice to see that my fiery passion is growing hotter with my increasing skills! We're going to be a couple of badasses my friend!" Tojiro boomed to JK, thoughts of girls all over him present in his mind. But he was thoughtful of other's feelings, more so after JK taught him a few tricks about vocal control he learned from Miu. Surprising how much a cheerleader needed her voice but her help was much appreciated.

"I'm glad that we're not as sucky anymore. I guess we needed our muses" JK stated as he looked at Erin, watching space footage with Yuki. The older transfer student was quite happy to help out the two rockers as she grew up listening to this sort of music and her advice was doing wonders for their music's quality.

Erin was thrilled that space travel was possible in this world. "If only my father could see me now. I'm going to make him proud of me! Just think of the new worlds we'll see, Yuki-chan! To think that our dreams are coming true!" she excitedly shouted as she jumped out of her chair in joy.

"I know, right? My parents love learning about other cultures and if we could bring this technology back with us then we can help people all over our world! There are other people out there and if we put our minds together then we're stronger than we are apart! Maybe I can see my friends in space that talked to me during my childhood" Yuki cheerfully added. Erin was not totally sure that Yuki's "space voices" are real but given that they met all sorts of odd characters in Ben's world anything's possible at this point. "Plus I think our families are going to get along so well! We'll be like sisters!" the space otaku happily told Erin as the both of them hugged each other. Theirs would be a friendship that lasts a lifetime.

But as they were happily going about their business Hope watched from outside sadly. She so desperately wanted to see her father again but she knew that was never going to happen. As Ran and Julie went to finish breakfast, talking about things that they like to do, namely sports and spending time with their friends, Hop couldn't hold back a few tears from falling down. But she could not help but wonder where Ben was at time hour.

As if the universe itself wanted her to know Ben walked right behind her, tired from his morning jog. But when Charmcaster turned around to see just who it was she was a tad startled. However Darkstar was ready for Ben.

"You kept me from my Lovely Gwen, Ben. You denied me power and fame while you partiality swam in it. Well no more will I suffer your stupidity and your need to butt in everywhere I go!" As Darkstar changed to Dark Aquarius and tried to drown Ben his water blasts were blocked by something he knew all too well: Manny's hulking form.

"We don't need a powerwash today, thanks!" the Tetramand snarked. Dark Aquarius was besides himself as he was able to survive his power draining waters. Perhaps if he could separate Ben from the others then this might go better. He would have so such luck as Fourze rolled into battle with his "Uchuu Kitta" battle cry. "A little help here would be splendid dear" D. Aquarius whined. No way was he fighting two opponents at once.

"You always need more than a 'little' help" Charmcaster muttered under her breath as she mutated to the form of Dark Virgo. The Zodiart form was clad in blue dominatrix gear with two horns on her head. Gold chains were on her biceps and thighs and over her stomach and the Virgo constellation on her choker. Completing the look was a pair of black angel wings with a sad eggshell white face with black lipstick on the lips and a harsher looking halberd than the one Emoto wielded. "I look...not like myself anymore" as the fact that she used Diagon's power was setting in.

"Whine about it later. Ben must die and I can't do the deed by myself, now can I?!"Michael snapped at Hope. Soon both Horoscopes were on top of Fourze as everyone looked on in shock. They were fighting viciously and Gen may not live without some aid. Aid that Ben is happy to provide.

Turning to Swampfire he threw two fireballs apiece at D. Virgo and D. Aquarius, knocking them away from Fourze. "Thanks, Ben. I don't think I could have gotten them off myself" Fourze thanked the Plumber.

"It's no biggie. Now then we have a job to do!" Dark Virgo slashed energy waves from her halberd at Fourze but he dodged them with a little trouble. Charmcaster was not as mellow as his normal foes and Gen needed to stay on his toes. But Charmcaster was always a quick study and soon she teleported behind him and broke his arm with a judo grab.

"Gen-chan!" Yuki cried out in horror. "How dare you hurt him! He did nothing to you and you just want to fight, no matter who you hurt" Her words cut deeper than Yuki realized as Dark Virgo turned to her direction, staring her in the face. Yuki was shaking in terror as she wasn't sure what Charmcaster would do to her.

But D. Virgo just wanted to talk. "I know from the Intel I got from the old Horoscopes that your friend is a good person and I don't wish to harm him further. But I have no home to go back to. My people will never want me back as I was such a tyrant to them. My life here is not much better but at least I have my pride left!" But Hope was feeling sadder than she was letting on and Yuki knew it.

"Then why still with Vilgax? Perhaps we can help you get back on your feet? Is there someone who you care about? I'm sure that they must be worried about you right now" Yuki comforted the older girl. Hope was feeling batter and the person she cared about more than anything was right there. She didn't care what people thought about that anymore. She had to get it out!

"The person I care about is BEN!" D. Virgo declaimed as she pointed to Swampfire, a look of confusion on his face. "Ben, I know this is sudden but ever since that day when I robbed that store I felt something growing in my heart. Now I know it's love and it's for you" Her words were a total shock to everyone there but poor Julie was just blindsided by the news! One of Ben's enemies...LOVED HIM? It was too much for her to take in as she ran back inside to think about what went down.

Dark Aquarius was stunned by this as well. "I thought I was your greatest lover!" he protested. But Hope's mind was made up and Gwen has proven that Michael could not be trusted at all.

"You were a horrible lover. Especially in bed" she bitterly admitted to Dark Aquarius. That was too much for his bloated ego to take as he grabbed onto her forcibly and began to drain away her power.

"You were always such a brat, laughing like a crazy old woman! Hell, you LOOK like a old woman too! I don't think you deserve such gifts, you wreathed COW!" Soon Hope was human again, her skin pale as death. But Darkstar could care less about her condition.

"HA HA HA! Now I am more than I was before! I have reached the final level of power, SUPERNOVA!" His body began to contort into a demonic state with sharp claws and jagged horns on his skull-like face. He then spun around like a sprinkler, spraying passerby with his dark waters, causing their life force to go into him body, increasing his power even more . Luckily the KRC knew to go inside when he was mutating, taking the limp form of Hope with them to so they were safe. The people he got his dark waters on, no such luck.

Ben was angrier than ever by what he saw. The people he got with his Dark Waters were nothing but husks now, never to rise again. Going to his Benwolf form he slashed at Dark Aquarius to no avail.

"You can't do it alone! Let me help you!" Fourze cried out as he switched to Magnet States, firing off attack after attack of magnetic power from his railguns. Seeing as that was not really helping Ben he leapt from a claw swipe from D. Aquarius with Hopping while blasting him with Launcher. Again, no effect.

Ben howled at his mutated foe and ran towards Fourze. "I don' think we're doing all that great out there. Darkstar's just too strong for us!"

Fourze sadly nodded his admittance to his doubts on stopping Darkstar. Benwolf gritted his teeth as he was helpless before his onslaught and he could do nothing about it!

But then something happened. The love Yuki was feeling for Gen as well as the bonds of friendship they all share brought new life to a Switch Fourze thought he's never use again! The Cosmic Switch was back online! Thanking his friends silently as he placed it into the Fourze Driver he turned it on and all the other Switchs aside from Shin-Chan and Super-1 went into his suit, turning it electric blue with more armor to it as well as arming him with a sword that looked like a rocket.

Yuki and JK were pleased to see that their friendship was now stronger than ever! Cosmic States was back and there was going to be trouble for Dark Aquarius!

To be concluded

**Sorry about making this a three parter but I might lose power tomorrow and I wanted to get this out in the open before that happened. As always let me know what you think it the review section!**


	16. Lost Hope part 3

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners.**

Chapter 16: Lost Hope Part Three

The form of Cosmic States was truly a sight to behold. Cyan blue was its main color with a black chest piece with four different parts, each devoted to a set of Modules. As it shone in the morning sunlight Dark Aquarius could not help but say this:

"I take it you have no shame whatsoever. A pity you will never learn your place in this world or any other" as he swung his claw down over Fourze. But Gen was ready for that as he touched the parts of the Switching Lung that gave him Shield and Parachute, making the chutes harder than steel. Not surprisingly his claw was unable to penetrate his defenses. "What is this power?!" he exclaimed.

"It is friendship's true power, the power to overcome any obstacles" Fourze answered from the very bottom of his heart. While it was a corny response everyone but D. Aquarius was touched by what he said. Equipping Chain Array he then combined it with Fire's power, causing the ball at the end of it to come ablaze.

Benwolf was impressed with the abilities of Cosmic States. "Whoa! Why didn't you bust that out earlier, man? That is seriously cool!" From the safety of the window JK filled Ben in on Cosmic States' rundown.

"From what Kengo-san told us Switch 40 is an embodiment of Cosmic Energy and friendship. While it allows the user to combine the powers of all 40 Switches it needs the user to have strong bonds of friendship. If any of the bonds that made up the Switch are broken then it's rendered useless" JK answered.

"I was not being a good friend to you nor Yuki-chan" Gen admitted as he bashed Darkstar with the blazing Chain Array. "I lost sight of what truly matters but thanks to Ben I saw myself in him. We both wish to fight for our friends and befriend everyone in the universe!" With his heart's desire out for all to see Gen then did a jumping dive kick with the Drill Module, harming D. Aquarius and giving Ben an opening.

Ben did not waste the chance he was given and went for NRG, grabbing onto the hulking Dark Aquarius and punching him with red hot fists as he blasted his face with energy, burning him.

Yuki was quite touched by what Gen said. To think that they both felt the same way about each other! As their eyes met they couldn't help but be amazed by how much they meant to both the Club and each other. "Gen-chan..." she blissfully said as she was lost in the sight of her best friend, back in top form and with his bond with her stronger than ever before.

Gen gave her a thumbs-up then when back to the battle. He wanted to hold her in his arms, to take in her warmth and enjoy her company, but the duties of a Kamen Rider come first. As he roared into D. Aquarius with Wheel he summoned the Barizan Sword, placing the Fire Switch into its hilt. Pressing the button for Flash the sword then burst to life with blinding flame as he stuck Darkstar with it four times, causing smoldering slash marks to form on his Zodiart body. Before his mind could fully register the pain he was now in Ben turned into Armordrillo and uppercutted his chin with a drill. As he staggered back he blasted them both with dark water, draining their strength and adding it to his own!

To the horror of everyone there Gen and Ben fell down, too tired to fight back as Dark Aquarius then knocked them both into the air and kept them there with repeated attacks, causing them both much harm. Soon Ben was back to being human again, unable to fight on anymore, leaving Gentaro on his own.

Julie and the KRC knew not what they could do to help them! They were only human and Manny was still recovering from Darkstar's earlier attack. As they were forced to watch helplessly Julie turned to Charmcaster's slumbering form.

"I'll admit I'm still a little possessive of Ben. But I'm working on bettering myself so I can a better friend to him as well as other people. If you truly care about him, then help US!" she begged the mage. Charmcaster woke up to Julie's relief but she still looked uneasy about whenever she could even do anything to stop Dark Aquarius' rampage.

"I'm not sure if he even can be stopped now. He drains power from everything his waters touch and I doubt even Vilgax could stop him now. It's best to accept death as it's hopeless" she sighed. Charmcaster couldn't get out of her funk and while Julie was normally willing to help people out gently, now wasn't the time to sulk around and wait until she died.

Furiously slapping Charmcaster she yelled, "What do you mean there's no hope left?! There's always a chance if you just fight on! But you lost sight of everything good in your life because you got greedy! You were someone's hope once! I just know it!"

Hearing that brought life back to Charmcaster's eyes. To Julie's surprise she hugged her and thanked her.

"You're right. I was my father's Hope once. It's time I became that again, for all of our sakes"

As Dark Aquarius closed in on the limping form of Fourze he prepared to crush the very life out of the Rider. But then he was tackled by stone beasts. He knew where they were from, but he was shocked that SHE would set them loose on him! Her former boyfriend!

"CHARMCASTER! How dare you do this to meee?! I was to be your king!" he howled, giving up on attacking Fourze for the time being.

"What do you think? For using me and harming Legerdomain! But if you can remember my true name, then I MIGHT be merciful." Charmcaster vemomly spat out, her glare colder then ice. "You only get one more chance Michael"

Annoyed, Darkstar angrily answered, "Fine. But you do owe me a hint!"

Calming down a bit Charmcaster stated this riddle: "It's something Ben gives to the people. It's something you cannot touch but be gained and taken away. It's one of the most important things to everyone and it starts with a H. One word."

Like a hyper kid Fourze wanted to answer as he guessed correctly what Charamcaster's real name was, but she shushed him. She wanted to see if Mike could remember. Darkstar thought long and hard about this. When seven minutes have passed he answered her question. It was not what she was wanting.

"It's headaches! What else could the answer be?!"

Charmcaster was livid. She could stand no more of Dark Aquarius and his arrogance. "IT'S HOPE, YOU BASTARD! " she roared as she casted a lighting spell to hit him over and over while he was held in place with _Turbo_. "I can't believe I fell for you! I was so stupid that I was even able to let you sleep with me!" During her raging Ben woke up.

"Uggghhh. I never want to drink water without it being purified again for as long as I live" as he rubbed his head groggily. Seeing that Dark Aquarius was on the rope he shouted at Gen "I think he wants to get away, but he really needs to chill out!"

"You're right. I think I have a idea" as he saw the note Yuki made out to him, suggesting combining two Modules' powers for this occasion.

Summoning the Freeze Switch and setting it into the Fourze Driver he then pressed the button for Sheath on the Switching Lung. With those two powers combined a invisible gust of freezing air came out of the Freeze Module, though Darkstar didn't realize what their plan was until it was too late.

"Uggh-Uh-AAAGGHHHH! I'm stuck!" To his frustration his lower half was covered in thick ice."But it's not something my watery wings can't fix!" he boasted. As he flapped his wings the ice grew colder and harder and no matter what he tried he was stuck as Dante's version of Satan. He was finally helpless before the hands of justice.

"Thank you Hope. I gotta admit it's a pretty name you have there" Ben complemented her, causing her to blush, while Julie looked a little uncomfortable with what was going on right now.

But Gen was ready to finish the job. Thanking Yuki and the others for their help he closed the Barizan Sword to its Rocket Mode, opening a warp drive behind Dark Aquarius. He could do nothing but flail his arms around as he was forced into the portal and into outer space.

As he looked around he was scared out of his wits. "What is this power you wield? How can it be greater than my own?!" as he whined and pleated with Fourze. But Gentaro was in no mood for this.

Taking out the Cosmic Switch and plugging it into the Barizan Sword he then set up his Limit Break with said weapon. Soon he reopened the sword and slashed him with its full power.

As his body began to fall apart Darkstar was still unsure just why he lost to Fourze. "Tell me... the secret of your greatness"

Fourze answered "It's the hopes and dreams of all my friends. When we work together there's nothing we cannot do! It's the belief I treasure most dearly!" he proudly shouted at D. Aquarius before he blew up and from out of the destroyed Zodiart body came the dying Darkstar.

With his last breath he tried to return to monster form but he soon crumbed to stardust before he had a chance to do so. Fourze looked on sadly as his remains drifted away in the solar winds, wondering if he had gotten here sooner he could have been saved.

_Later..._

It took a long time but all the bodies were cleaned up by sanitation. It was heartbreaking to the KRC, having to watch helplessly as Darkstar killed them. As they sat down and discussed what they needed to do with their lives Emoto stopped by, looking a bit worn out. It was still hard to believe that this kind hearted, if eccentric man was Virgo of the Horoscopes.

"I've heard what happened during my drive here. I'm truly sorry you all had to deal with that" Emoto then took a deep breath as this next thing he wished to say was important. "I was able to contact the Rabbit Hatch back home and told everyone that apart from Yuta you were all safe. But we cannot go home just yet"

"Why can't we go back just yet? I'm worried about Haru-chan and I know he's worried sick about me too" Ran interjected. Haru was like a younger brother to her and she missed him dearly.

"When we crossed over to Ben's dimension the Horoscope Switched were overloaded for lack of a better term. They are filled to the brim with negative Cosmic Energy so if a person is struck with a Limit Break while in Horoscope form then there is a chance that they will crumble into stardust. This applies to very strong blows as well. Thankfully if the Switcher is not a evil person then they will just be reverted to human form, though as you all know they will need to get the energy drained from their bodies or there will be side effects."

"So that's why some of these 'Dark Horoscopes' are falling apart after Ben and Gen-chan battled them" Erin mused.

"Correct. But so far there's only 6 of these left. The Switchers for Dark Leo, Dark Sagittarius and Dark Scorpio have been found but I think they'll be safe for now. But there's still the matter of dealing with Dark Cancer, Dark Capricorn and Dark Libra." Emoto's words rung true in the ears of everyone present. Something must be done.

"We have been thinking this over for a long time now. We want to help out the people here and make things better for everyone!" Gentaro and Tojiro enthusiastically told Emoto. Yuki, JK, Ran and Erin nodded to let him know they felt the same way they did.

"We even thought of a name for our group! We'll be the Guiding Stars! We can do odd jobs for people so they can live happier lives!" Yuki cheerfully added. " I'm so excited about this" as she jumped up and down, looking like a kid in a candy store. Erin gently smiled at her enthusiasm as Gen wrapped his arms around her.

"We shall do great things here. We will make friends with everyone here!" Gentaro declared as Yuki rested her head on his chest, looking content.

"I'm glad to hear that. But I have something I need to give to Manny and then I have to go back to work." Emoto told the Kamen Rider Club. Sure enough Manny popped his head out from the living room.

"I take it you have a gift for me?" he asked innocently. Emoto smiled and opened a box and inside was a red hand. "Dude, no way! How'd you know I wanted something better than this crappy clamp?"

"I could see it on your face. I figured you deserved something more fitting to your personally" Emoto admitted. It took about five minutes to replace the clamp with the new hand. To Manny's joy it worked perfectly!

"Thanks man! Stupid Dr. Animo had a Null Guardian bite off my hand! It's great to have a hand again!" Manny was close to tears as the KRC hugged him. Emoto smiled at the heart warming scene. Still he couldn't help but wonder where Ben, Julie and Hope were.

_Outside..._

Hope had changed to a leather outfit holding a purple helmet. To her right were Ben and Julie looking at her and wanting to know her future plans.

"I'm sorry about freaking out about your crush on Ben. It's just I love him so much and every though I know other people love him I'm still learning to share him with the world. Can you ever forgive me?" Julie sadly asked.

"Don't sweat it too much. Your devotion to Ben is remarkable and to be honest I'm still learning to forgive myself. It's going to take a long time but I'm glad I have friends like you" Hope told them, a gentle smile on her face.

"Just so we're clear I'm touched that you feel that way about me, but I'm happy with Julie. Is that going to be OK with you, Hope?" Ben was worried his question would set her off but she was handling it rahter well.

"Of course I'm happy for the both of you! You saved me from things I was so close to becoming. I'll always be happy for you both! As for me, I'm going to go where the winds take me" Hope then placed the helmet on her head but took some time to kiss Ben and, to her surprise, Julie goodbye on the lips.

"Wait!" It was Gentaro, and he wanted to make sure she was a friend of the Kamen Rider Club as well. Soon they both shook hands then fist bumped and surely enough their friendship was set!

"Thanks for everything. But I have a lot to make up for and not a lot of time to do so. You only get one life and I don't want to waste any more of mine doing crime." Hope's motorcycle roared to life as she was about to head out. "Oh Ben! I fixed your car for you! It's not much but it's a start!" as she drove on, a new chapter in her life was just about to begin.

_Two minutes later..._

While everyone was out getting lunch Ben went to the garage where his car was. Now it was no longer wreaked and green. Now it was good as new. Better than new even! Instead of a green and black paintjob it was now white where the black was and where the green was there was now pink with sugar pink hearts on those parts.

"Thanks Hope. I hope that you find what you're looking for" as he got in, the insides now having pink and white upholstery as he got in and was about to drive to Mr. Smoothy. Surely enough life was starting to get a little better.

But his cellular breakdown caused him sharp and sudden pain before he could even get the key in the ignition. Trying to calm down Ben wondered if HE could be saved...

**As always let me know what you thought of this in the reviews section!**


	17. Triple Threat!

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners**

Chapter 17: Triple Threat! 

_Vilgax's lair deep in underground Bellwood..._

As the former ruler sat in his custom made chair he pondered about his future. Granted he had much time to mull about that when his first attempt at the Omnitrix left him with next to nothing for a body, but this time was something special. Now thanks to Diagon or rather his power he had one final gambit left to go after Ben: The Dark Horoscope Switches!

'It seems that while I've lost power, I have gained something greater than that' he thought as Pysphon entered the room with the uncousoius bodies of Cash, JT and Emily. 'A chance to make Ben suffer as I did when he nonchalantly told me that my world was in ruins. But should I go ahead with this or risk losing Dark Cancer or Dark Capricorn by having them attack Ben and his friends to soften them up for the new recruits?'

As if he was saying these things vocally Pysphon answered his master. "Perhaps it is wise to have the two of them, as well as myself weaken Ben while you work on getting our guest ready for their next mission in life." Vilgax nodded his approval, a sick grin forming on his face.

"I'm impressed that your Dark Libra powers allow you to read minds. But perhaps the true power of this form is its special abilty to become more than it normally does for short periods of time. With Argit and Aggregor working alongside you I'll have plenty of time to ready these children for our needs." As Pysphon went to go get his two other partners Vilgax stopped him with these words:

"I must admit that your loyalty is remarkable. Not many beings can say that they will follow a leader until death and be truthful about it. I must take the time to thank you for your effects in our plans and I wish to see you improve your skills as time goes on" Pysphon thanked his master as he changed to the form of Dark Libra and it was a horrid sight to behold!

Whereas Kouhei's Libra was like a cockroach Pysphon's was inclined more like a mantis. Sharp and jagged blades were on his elbows and shoulders. His helmet had two red eyes as opposed to Kouhei's one. Apart from those differences and the form being more green with mantis wings it was about the same as the first Libra.

"I shall serve you until I am no longer able to, Lord Vilgax" as Dark Libra bowed to his master. He then when to get Argit and Aggregor to start this new plan. Vilgax was quite pleased to this indeed.

_Downtown Bellwood..._

Sure it was a rocky start but the Guiding Stars have gained steady clientele and are about to start their second week of business! Ben was quite pleased with this as while the Plumbers did pay him for his line of work it couldn't cover both himself and his guests. He was thankful that they were willing to help out with his bills. Now as he drove to a customer's house with Julie, Gen and JK in his car Ben wondered if things will get better as time goes on. Starting a new business was always stressful and he didn't want to think about how much he'd have to give up to pay for everything should this go south. But as he pulled up he put those thoughts aside and got out of the car, ready to face the new day.

"Good morning my good sir! We heard that you were in need of housework done! Well then let the Guiding Stars do the work so you don't have to!" Ben announced in a somewhat overly cheerfully tone. The man, who was a bit heavyset looked at the group with a inquisitive eye, not totally sure if they can do the job he had planned for them.

"Where's ta rest of ya?!" he barked, getting spit over Ben's face to his disgust. "I ain't got all day!"

Just as the words left his mouth Kevin's lavender car pulled up in the driveway and Yuki, Tojiro, Erin and Ran got out to greet the grumpy fellow.

"Sorry about getting here as late as we did, old dude. Traffic is terrible this time of day" Tojiro told the pudgy man. He gave the rocker a look and then gave a sort of half smile, letting them all know they can do the work he had planned for them.

"OK, so here's ta thing. I gots to watch over this mansion here and it gets dirty faster than ya would think. Can ya cleans it all up for me?" he wheezed lazily. Ben told him that his group would be able to do it, but truthfully he was not paying full attention to Ben as he was gawking at the girls, making them uncomfortable. "OK then! Ya got until sundown to finish this job or I'm gonna blacklist the lot of ya! I got things ta do so try to do your best job!" as he entered his old truck and drove off, leaving the GS to their deeds.

"Oooookkk then. Now then I want all of us to do the best job we can because we're.." Ben left the sentence hang for the others to answer but Manny crashed down by them, making them wobble as the earth shook from under them. When things have calmed down all eyes were on the Tetramand.

"Hey, jumping is the only way I can get to the places we need to be. In case none of you have noticed I'm not the lightest person in our group and do you think I can fit into Ben's car, let alone Kevin's?" Manny retorted. While none of them were mad at him Manny never felt truly comfortable in his own skin. Whenever he asked girls on dates they generally end with the human girls getting weirded out or the Tetramand girls saying he's not really their type. He thought he had a thing with Helen, but after Pierce's death she had no time for anything Manny wanted to do, least of all romance.

"No one here was blaming you. It's just you startled us a bit, but we're OK" Ran told him. She did care for Manny like everyone else but after being looked at by a overweight pervert she answered him with a sharper tone than she'd like to. But Manny was relaxed by what she said to him nonetheless.

"Thanks Ran. Y'know, for a first year you got a good head on your shoulders" as he rubbed her hair in a friendly way, although she was a little freaked out by this. But she was both thankful he stopped as soon as he started and a little sad, as she wanted to be more open to people but it was a slow process for her.

Erin cleared her throat and stated the plan of attack: "If we begin on the top floor then keep working down we'll have more energy to do the harder work first and save time by not loading and unloading our supplies all the time. Besides how bad can one man be at getting a three story mansion dirty?"

She soon learned the hard way that their customer was quite good at making messes. The floor was literally covered in pizza boxes, rotting and moldy foodstuffs, old clothes that were too ripped up to ever use again and various liquors in pools on the ground below, making it impossible to tell what color the rug was before the current occupant took residence here. The walls were soaked in odd stains in every color you can find food in and there was piles of porn EVERYWHERE. Plus the aforementioned items were covered in a thick layer of dust and keep in mind this is only the first floor! To make matters worse the bathroom was flooded with toilet water, about a foot or so, but Erin found that out the hard way as she opened the door and it rushed all over her shoes.

Erin was never a person to handle stressful things all that well and this was one of the worst things she has ever seen before. Screaming at the top of her lungs, scaring Yuki and JK in the process Erin then sat down in a old chair and cried in frustration. "HOW CAN ONE MAN DO ALL OF THIS?! WE NEED A HAZMAT TEAM TO CLEAN THIS OUT, BUT WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO EVEN RENT ONE! HE SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LIVE HERE, HE'S MORE LIKE A PIG THAN A MAN!"

As Yuki tried to calm her friend down, Ben looked over the carnage that was this man's house. Clearly he didn't deserve to live in such a nice place, but he figured that they were all thinking that by now. Selecting Terraspin Ben then blew the garbage out onto the yard to the amazement of everyone there.

Erin calmed down enough to see Ben's handiwork and she was very pleased indeed. "Bugoi. Ben, you're amazing! I wish I had a Omnitrix like yours! While it would make my job easier I plan on becoming an astronaut under my own skills." as she ran up to Ben or rather Terraspin and hugged him out of gratitude as did Yuki. "Thank you so much Ben-san" both girls told him as they buried their faces on his shell, making Julie a little jealous.

"O-OK girls, it's time to let go now" Terraspin pleaded to no avail as both girls were snuggling his turtle chest as they were glad Ben was being such a big help and the fact that they both think Terraspin is cute. "But you can hold on for a little while longer. I'm cool with this" as he blushed a darker green. Truthfully Ben did like having two hot girls fawning over him and wished they would do so in his normal human form.

But Tojiro was getting impatient with all this. "C'mon guys, we're burin' daylight here and the less I see of this pigsty the better", holding his nose to block off the horrid smell of years of neglect. Erin and Yuki let go of the turtle reluctantly and everyone got back to work.

_11:49 A.M., standard time..._

It was more work than they thought but soon the first floor was spotless. Granted Gen and Ben did most of the work, with Gentaro using his Fourze powers to reach arenas that the others couldn't get to and Ben power washing the walls with Water Hazard, lifting heavy items with Fourarms and eating things that couldn't be thrown away nor recycled with Eatle, but everyone else did more than enough work cleaning the mansion floor and making sure that everything was looking spic and span. But soon the reality of having to do the other two higher floors sank in and everyone was worried that this job wouldn't get done by the time they client got back.

JK was exhausted by all of this, more so than the others. "Can we PLEASE stop for lunch? I don't wanna do anymore work on a empty stomach" he whined, his stomach grumbling with hunger..

"I agree with JK. We should have a relaxing lunch so we can unwind and be able to focus on the rest of the day without too much stress" Gentaro cheerfully told the group. The girls nodded happily about having a chance to stop doing this dirty work and relax with a good meal, while Manny pointed to Ben who was still Eatle.

"Yo Ben, you hungry or what?!" he shouted at Eatle blasted the garbage into smaller chucks with his laser powers. When he was finished he turned to Manny and walked over to him.

"Yeah, I guess I'm still a little hungry. Even with Eatle's powers I'm still workin' up a sweat here" as Ben reverted to human form, rubbing his stomach.

"Then if we're all in agreement let the lunch break begin!" Yuki declared with passionate zeal, her face aglow with happiness.

_Meanwhile, just five block away from where our heroes are now..._

Argit and Dark Libra were under the streets of Bellwood, going over the plan to weaken Ben. But so far Argit was having some difficulties with understanding this plan of attack.

"Ok, so let me get this straight. We're just going to rough him up a bit, right" he asked as Dark Libra rubbed his face in annoyed disbelief.

"It's far more than that, you simpleton. We need to drain Tennyson of his power so that when Vilgax gets the others ready then Ben will be crushed utterly!" Dark Libra explained, slamming his fist down into his open hand for dramatic effect as Argit finally got it. He wished that he understood sooner, but better late than never, as the humans are so often fond of saying.

Aggregor was already in his Dark Capricorn form. It had leather pants, spiked boots and belts, black armguards and a leather duster over a demonic goatman body. He wore a chestplate with the Capricorn constellation on it. However that didn't change his overall personally at all. "At least you now understand what our duty is" he hissed though his teeth. To think that he must now work for Vilgax, of all people! 'Maybe I shouldn't have blown up my ship, now that I have had time to think that over' he thought.

"Yup! I'm raring to go here! Just say the word and I'm already there! But I have to ask you somethin', if that's OK with ya" Argit asked Dark Capricorn, not totally sure if he would even want to answer his question.

"You may speak to me" D. Capricorn told the rat alien, a hint of malice in his voice.

"You really gotta get those growths on your head check out, Kevin. You might have something going on in the ol membrane that you REALLY don't want in there" Argit admitted to Aggregor, causing him to raise a eyebrow in annoyance. How Argit can tell one Osmosian from another, but keep confusing him with the hatchling Kevin, he would never know.

"Enough chatter, the both of you! We're approaching Ben and his little play group, so keep your mouths shut" Dark Libra snapped, causing Argit to clam up instantly and Dark Capricorn to glare at him for ordering him around, but no more than that. "Soon Ben will fall before our might and Vilgax shall rule this universe and perhaps all others as well!"

_Noon..._

Ben had to admit the lunches of the KRC members looked really good. All sorts of sushis, ,meat dishes, rices, vegetables and deserts looked good enough to eat. Their lunches made his peanut butter and tofu sandwiches look feebly by comparison. As he sipped his apple juice from his thermos he regretted not taking the time to make a better meal for himself. Granted he was dying from cellular breakdown and he was doing a lot of work with Gwen, Kevin and Grandpa Max offworld, but at least he should have made time to make something better than, well, PB and Tofu sandwiches!

Gentaro walked up to Ben and had something to say to Ben. "I noticed that you were rushing to get out the door this morning. So I thought I would let you have some of mine to help you out, Ben-san" as he offered Ben his octopus sushi and natto. The smell alone was too much for Ben, even though he knew Stinkfly's odor was far worse. Still he couldn't just snub Gentaro away, not after he was nice enough to offer part of his meal.

"Thanks man, but I'll manage" he politely declined. Gentaro looked a little sad that Ben was going to eat a small and rather unappetizing lunch, but he was willing to respect his wishes and headed back to where JK and Tojiro were eating.

Since they finished early Erin and Yuki wanted to show the group their idea for their mascot. In Erin's hands was a odd animal with eight legs and a weird looking snout, but she was holding it as if it were the cutest thing ever.

"This is a Tardigrade, or as it's better known as, the Waterbear" Erin explained to the group. "So far they are the only animals to survive the vacuum of outer space. Plus they're cute as can be!" as she snuggles with the plush toy. Yuki was admiring the toy as well, but Ben was a bit grossed out by their choice of mascot. He had a good number of aliens that can survive in space, Upgrade being the first to prove that, but he doubted that everyone wanted him to be the mascot.

"Of course Erin-chan as well as myself think it's rather cruel to force innocent animals out into space for experimentation. We think that by choosing this animal as our mascot we have a strong totem to draw strength from in times of need" Yuki bubbly told the group as she smiled one of her cute smiles. Gentaro loved seeing her happy and he would always be willing to support her in her dreams of space. After all she did invite everyone of her friends to join her plus he always wanted to go out into space and make friends with all sorts of beings! But he was a little bothered by their choice of totem animal, but he was polite and kept quiet as they presented their ideas to the group.

JK however was not thrilled by the odd looking plushy and the effects it was having on his appetite. Yuki was his club chairman and he did love her as a dear friend, but sometimes she finds the weirdest thing to talk about. Normally he'd just go with it but he was wanting to eat and he couldn't with that thing in his line of sight. Manners be damned, that thing had to go away!

"Yuki, put that ugly thing away! It's grossing me out!" he bellowed, hurting both Yuki and Erin's feelings, causing Yuki to sob and Erin to tear up a bit. Ran was not pleased by what he did.

"How rude! I wasn't too happy about it myself, but you could at least shown a little tact JK-kun! They worked hard on that and you were rather blunt about how you felt about it!" her voice shaking from anger. JK started to feel bad about what he did to the older girls. Sure he didn't share their love of space but they were polite in listening to him and Tojiro talk about rock and roll without complaining one little bit. "I think you owe them both a apology JK-kun" Ran growled at the older boy. " I won't tolerate bullies, not even if they're my fellow club members"

JK swallowed hard and tried to work up the nerve to tell Yuki and Erin he didn't mean to hurt their feelings, but he was too nervous to do so. Gentaro, normally a person to see the best people no matter what, was looking at JK as if he was Sudodeath himself. It was not a look JK liked seeing from Gen, even more so when it was directed to himself.

Admitting defeat he was about to tell them he was sorry about what he told them about the waterbear, but before he could get a word in to the girls Dark Libra and Dark Capricorn busted in from the sewers, with Argit hot on their heels.

"Greeting Ben Tennyson, savior of the universe, hero of the Highbreed invasion and legend to all" Dark Libra mocked the Omnitrix bearer. Ben had to roll his eyes at the odd scene before him, as Pysphon was always a drama queen and his new form of Dark Libra would perhaps never change that fact.

"C'mon Pysphon, surely you of all people know by now that I outgrew that part of my life. But since you came all this way you do deserve a treat: knuckle sandwiches for all Horoscope members!" as he slapped down the dial and became a one-eye form. But it was not the right one.

"Ah, c'mon! Wildvine! I wanted Chromastone!" Ben just shrugged it off. "It's cool. I can work with this. I've dealt with Omnitrix malfunctions before. This time is no different" as he threw seed bombs at Dark Libra, who swatted them away with **DIKE**, knocking them back to Wildvine, who tunnled below ground to escape the blasts. "No givebacks!" was his response.

During Ben's battle with D. Libra Argit was now facing the Plumber known as Manny Armstrong. Even Argit, dumb as he was, knew he needed a edge against a Tetramand warrior and the Dark Cancer Switch was all the edge he needed. "Check this out, you big lummox!" as he clicked the Switch to life and became the titular Dark Cancer himself. He was a blue crab humanoid with white pecs and claws that can change into strong claws when he willed them to. On his chest was the Cancer constellation. Doing a roundhouse kick to Manny's head he was able to knock the wind out of his lungs and stagger him. Argit wasted no time and jumped onto Manny, punching him over and over with his claws, cutting into his flesh. "Ha ha! Who's the big guy now, huh? Hey Kevin, check me out! I'm kickin' butt out here!" But the man who Argit thinks is Kevin was paying him no mind.

As Dark Capricorn and Fourze clashed Gen was still worried about Yuki and Erin. But the both of them were able to put JK's harsh words out of their minds, helping people out of the crossfire along with the others. Still JK needed to tell them he was sorry later. That moment when he wasn't focusing on the fight left him open to a sharp jab from Dark Capricorn.

"Are you even a warrior, boy? If you do not wish to fight then die right here and now!" as Aggregor tried to kick Fourze's head off, but he blocked it with the Shield Module. He was then open to counter attack by the Gattling Module, damaging his form and setting him square on his back.

Gen then used the Brush Module to wrap up Dark Capricorn in ink wrappings. "I'd fight with you some more but it seems you're a little wrapped up right now" he joked and Wildvine gave him a thumbs up to show his approval. But so far the heroes were not gaining any ground in this battle.

"They're too strong for us! We gotta fall back" as Manny threw Dark Cancer off and rubbed some blood off his face. "Hey Ben, you got any other aliens that can help out a little more? Wildvine's not cutting it against these jokers!"

Turning the dial Ben went to Eatle and bit down on the Dike, breaking it. As Dark Libra snarled at him Ben contently chewed on the broken staff and swallowed it. Burping loudly he gave the opinion that it "Needed salt" Pysphon was so angry that he went Supernova, changing to a big black dog with teeth sharper than saw blades. As Eatle went wideyed at Dark Libra's new form he quipped "I get that you see yourself as Vilgax's loyal hound, but what does that have to do with Libra?"

Drooling Dark Libra roared out "This is the power of the BLACK ZODIAC! You bore witness to its powers before, but I have mastered all my abilities! Now DIIEEE!" as he tackled Ben to the ground, trying to bite his head off but Benn wouldn't hold still long enough to give him that window of opportunity.

Fourze was shocked by Dark Libra's form. Surely normal Horoscopes couldn't do that. When he turned around he saw that Dark Capricorn was in Supernova form too, his being a nasty looking fish headed man with suckers on his hands. "What's going on here?" the Rider wondered, but Dark Capricorn would give him no quarters. shoulder ramming Fourze and grabbed onto his head, draining away his energy.

"GEN! BEN! Hold on guys I'm coming- AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!" as Dark Cancer in his snake Supernova Form started to crush the very life out of him. "Ah ,Argit. Pick a animal and stick with it!" but his pleads were ignored by the hissing Dark Horoscope as he continued his dark deed.

Things were looking bad for the three and as much as the rest of them wanted to help they knew they would only get in the way. 'If only Ship were here then I could save them. But Kevin can't keep his spaceship in one piece even if his life mattered so Ship had to take them while his was getting repaired. Of all the times for this to happen' Julie thought as her face was one of absolute worry. But the matter on her mind that worried her more was just was this Black Zodiac that they're talking about? Could Jimmy know about all this?

Eatle was having the best luck out of the three, but given that he was still fighting for his life that wasn't saying all that much. Gen and Manny were dying and he couldn't do a damn thing about that! Soon everyone would be in danger and he was powerless to stop it! If only Azmuth left the Ultimate function on the new Omnitrix, then things would be different, that's for sure! But that's not going to happen. If he wanted to turn the tide then he had to think his way out of this. No more can he fall back on going Ultimate.

"Ready to die?" Dark Libra growled at drool dripped onto Eatle, making the beetle a tad ill. But Ben didn't want to die, not from overuse of the Ultimatrix and certainly not from becoming Psyphon's chew toy!

_Just a block or two from where the battle was..._

Prof. Emoto was just wanting to see how their new business was doing. But it seems n matter where you go there will always be those who seek to harm the innocent. Luckily he was able to finish something that may turn things around. He just hoped he got there in time.

_Back to where we were before..._

Fourze's vision was growing dimmer as his life force was drained away. No matter how much the others pleaded Dark Capricorn kept taking away his life force."When I'm done with this foolish boy I shall see to it you will never interfere with my plans again" he hissed, causing the KRC to step back in fear. But soon he was struck by a flash of light from...Meteor?

No it wasn't Ryusei. It was Emoto holding a laser that held a spare Meteor Switch in its butt. "Forgive my lateness, everyone" Emoto chuckled nervously. He then turned to Dark Capricorn, who was reeling from the blast, anger in his eyes. "You will not kill this boy. He believes in friendship more than most of us and it would do this world and mine no good if he was taken away from us again." as Dark Capricorn was staring at him. Deep down in his soul Aggregor was stunned that a human could give off such a glare.

"Gentaro, use this" as Emoto threw both the spare Meteor Switch as well as a purple Switch with a globe on it. Not missing a beat he answered "I don't fully trust Ryusei with the Meteor system. That's why I have a spare on hand in case the worst happened." as his features softened.

"Who would trust Ryu?!" JK shot out. He was still upset that Gentaro forgave him so easily, seeing as he was the one to kill Gentaro. But Gen, being who he was, understood that he did it to save his friend and was able to get the others to understand why he did that. Granted JK will never trust Ryusei fully again after the students of Subaruboshi High were forced to kill the Kamen Rider Club after Gen's death. That was a memory that would stay will the youth for the rest of his life and he has been wanting to say this for some time now. "Ryusei sucks!"

But even at death's door Gentaro was willing to believe in his fellow Rider. "Ryu-san was only trying to save his friends. He deserves our trust and surport" But even saying that was hard as he was drained of almost all his power.

Emoto however wasn't too worried. "Use the Switches I gave you Gentaro! You will have power beyond what you thought possible." Listening to his advice Gen placed the Meteor Switch in the Circle slot and the Fusion Switch in the Square slot and brought them both to life.

"**Meteor ON!"**

**"Fusion ON!"**

Soon Fourze was fully restored as he now wore a purple suit with gold shoulder pads. On his arm he wore the Meteor Galaxy and in his free hand he held the Barizun Sword.

"Behold...Fusion States" Emoto told the group before him. "Now Fourze has the power of both himself and Meteor"

"Yata! Thank you, Emoto-sensei!" Fourze thanked the professor as he kicked Dark Capricorn away with his newfound mastery of Jeet Kune Do. "I feel closer than ever to Ryusei-kun. Our hearts must be as one at this moment."

Emoto nodded happily at this. "I'm glad you feel that way Gentaro. Now end this battle before anyone gets hurt" With his advice in his heart Gentaro fired off a salvo of missiles from the Launcher Module, which thanks to the Fusion Switch, were stronger than normally. They hit D. Capricorn hard as the explosions rocked him up into the air. Before Aggregor could react Fourze prepped a Limit Break just for him.

Setting both the Drill and Meteor Switches to full Power Gen then leapt into the air and began to come down hard, the Drill Module glowing with the power of Meteor Storm.

_**"Rider Meteor Drill Kick!"**_

The attack hit Dark Capricorn dead in the heart, sending Aggregor back to his normal form. He soon crumbled to stardust, never to darken the doorsteps of the Plumbers again.

"KEVIN! NOOO!" Dark Cancer was shocked by what he saw. He reverted to his normal form and fired off acidic bubbles at Manny. Manny however was thankful he let go as his bubble were easy to dodge. "I am not a guy to hug other people but in your case I'll make an exception!" as he grabbed onto the crab Zodiarts and jumped about 30 feet into the air before crashing down with a Pile Driver...over the mansion he thought was abandoned. The force of his final strike utterly ruined the old dwelling, causing it to implode on itself. But Manny popped up as happy as can be. But he wondering why the rest of the group was glaring at him. "What?"

Knocked out of Dark Cancer form Argit crawled out of the wreckage and sat down. "Aw man, poor Kevin. How am I going to break this to Gwen? He would never have to worry about that as he was soon beamed up by a Plumber ship piloted by Gwen and Kevin themselves. "Kevin! Oh man, I thought I lost ya, buddy!" as he hugged his former partner.

"Glad to hear it, but you still have jail time for all the crimes you pulled. But still thanks for getting rid of Aggregor for us. We're heading back to Plumber base so you can relax before I chuck you into the Null Void" Kevin stated as Argit gulped out of fear.

Turning back to the Earth before he rocketed out he solemnly said this to Ben, although he didn't hear it. "I'm kicking you ass for painting my car all girly like" as Gwen protested his reaction to the car's new paintjob. As the both of them quarreled Argit knew it was going to be a long flight back...

With Dark Libra not focusing on biting him right now Eatle was just about ready to end this. But he needed a little pick me up. Which Erin was happy to give in the form of a bag of moss. As Eatle downed the whole bag Erin did a sort of sea chantey, the in-joke lost on everyone but Julie and Manny. With his horn at full power Ben blasted a beam of energy at the mad dog Zodiart, sending him on his back. Then with his horn glowing with power Eatle gored Dark Libra and threw him up in the air, after which he crash down and demutated to Pysphon. "Perhaps this wasn't the smartest of ideas Vilgax has had. If you live long enough you will learn to fear the power of Psyphon!"

Pysphon then turned tail and ran out of there as fast as his legs would carry him. Ben wanted to give chase but the Omnitrix powered down, and his cellular breakdown was causing him great pain. Everyone went over to Ben, worried that he might not survive before he gave a weak thumbs up to show he was alright...for now.

_Later in the day..._

Everyone was bummed out about the mansion being destroyed. Manny tried to apologize but no one wanted to even speak to him right now. "AW, C'mon! That house was a health hazard and you all knew it! We should be celebrating the fact that it's gone!" No response. Manny sighed in defeat and turned to walk back home, when.

"I'm glad I was able to catch up with you kids! As it would turn out the owner and the client you took the job from was a notorious drug runner, as well as one of America's worst crime lords. We caught up to him around noon when he was trying to buy some cocaine. There was a horrible shootout but we were able to shoot him down, although we wanted him to stand trial. Also don't worry about cleaning up his dump, it was where he made his poisons down in the cellar." The police officer saw that the mansion was totally smashed from the earlier battle. "My mistake! Since you kids were nice enough to tear down that old, condemned pigsty here's half a million for your troubles." He then drove off after giving Ben the money, leaving everyone there in a state of disbelief.

"I guess all's well that end well" JK cracked wise, trying to lighten the awkward mood. But then everyone remembered that he insulted Yuki and Erin during their lunch break. JK then quailed away in shame as he knew he was in big trouble.

"When we get back you have a lot to apologize for" Gentaro demanded of JK as they drove back to the house, money in tow.

_Later, at Vilgax's base..._

_"Forgive me master. I tried to kill Ben but Emoto made some odd Switches that ruined everything! Aggregor is dead and Argit is in Plumber custody!_" Psyphon begged Vilgax to understand that what happened wasn't his fault. Not totally true, but he hope his master would see his viewpoint.

"I understand. We have lost most of our members, but that no longer matters! I was able to corrupt Ben's friends into our final members! Soon they will fear the power of Dark Sagittarius, Dark Leo and Dark Scorpio!" as he laughed his evil laugh, the three Dark Horoscopes standing to the back of him.

Psyphon bowed out of gratitude and walked away, thankful that Vilgax was finally getting his way. But perhaps he should start planning ahead, in case this plan of his master's backfires. Touching a comlink on his wrist guard he contacted three shadowy figures. "If Vilgax dies then I may have a job for you three" as two of the trio smiled evilly and the third just clucked his aproval. He then turned the device off and went on to do his duties for Vilgax...

**Sorry about this chapter being late, but perhaps it's best I take more time to fill out these in order to make it flow better. Keep in mind this is my first story on here, so it's not going to be perfect, but if you have constitutive criticisms or if you just like want you see then free feel to share your views in the review section!**

**I would also like to address just why Gwen and Kevin are so important to add to this story. I doubt they'll make any more appearances other than this cameo here, but please, no more "ADD GWEN AND KEVIN" reviews! It's annoying to have to read them and I know you have other things you want to see in the story.**

**Next chapter will be able how Vilgax was able to get Emily, JT and Cash on his side as well as the fallout of JK's actions PLUS you're learn about the BLACK ZODIAC and the role it plays in this story!**

**Until then fare thee well and I hope you all are doing well!**


	18. The death of Ben Tennyson Part 1

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners.**

**AN:** As I promised here's the backstory on how the final three Dark Horoscopes joined Vilgax, plus JK having to say he's sorry and you'll learn about the _**Black Zodiac**_! All this in...

Chapter 18: The death of Ben Tennyson Part 1

_During the Guiding Star' first job and before the Dark Capricorn/Libra/Cancer battle..._

"OK, first off, why in the hell should we even trust you?" Cash lashed out, the same question first and foremost on the minds of Emily and JT as well. "You're not exactly Mr. Congeniality, now are you?"

"It is true that I have had...issues with your world in the past" Vilgax half admitted. "But I was hoping you would be willing to help me out with a problem our universe is having right now. It's name is Ben Tennyson. He has grown arrogant and foolhardy with the power he has received from Azmuth. I take it you know him best, correct?" as he tried to sweet-talk them into joining his army.

"I know that he was monstrous ego problems. I'm amazed Gwen even puts up with him" Emily bitterly recalled the day Ben webbed her to a building as Spidermonkey. It was not the best way to end their date and even since that day she hated him with all her heart. "If you have anything on Ben that we need to know, now's the time" as she rolled towards him, a doubtful look in her eyes.

Vilgax turned on a viewscreen and to their eyes was a scene of absolute horror: The ruins of Vilgaxia were right there in front of them all. JT was too frightened to look away, as Cash and Emily watched on in terror. There was no life left on the planet at all, the buildings having fallen over and the streets were littered with the bodies of the people that once called Vilgax emperor. The sky was a mix of orange and midnight grey, as dark clouds of smoke burrowed up into the air, as fires raged on unchecked. The scene was too much for even Vilgax to take as he turned it off, tears almost forming in his eyes.

"When Ben stole the Ultimatrix and left me for dead, my people panicked over my believed passing. Tensions were rising until civil war broke out and my people destroyed one another. So far I am the only one of my species left. Later when Ben visited the Flame Keeper's Circle he told me with a cheerful look on his face that my empire, MY WORLD, was gone!" He then showed the three the security footage of Ben saying this to Vilgax while he was trapped in the tank. Soon the looks of horror turned to anger, with Emily barely able to contain her rage.

"I knew it. Ben always was a selfish, egotistic brat, but this is too far, even for him" Emily whispered in a hateful tone. She then looked up at Vilgax as her features softened, unsure what to do now. "We'll help you with Ben, but I don't know how I can do anything that'll matter" She hated being stuck in a wheelchair, not being able to run, swim, even go outside on some days. It was like a prison to Emily and she wanted to be free of it, no matter what the cost. Tears were falling down her gentle checks as she recalled the day that she fell ill and was forced into this wheelchair. No matter how much pity or understanding she got from her classmates, she never truly felt like she belonged there with them.

"I don't wish to see you like this" Vilgax soothingly told her as he wiped away the tears to the best of his ability. "I think I may be able to help you with our problem child" as he opened a case with the last three unclaimed Dark Horoscope Switches.

"Just how are we going to use these to stop Ben?" JT wondered. Vilgax then took the time to show them how to use the powers that these Switches gave them.

_Not much later..._

Vilgax was quite pleased indeed! Now he had all 12 Switches empowered by the dark emotions of their Switchers! As the three new Zodiarts walked up to him he was as happy as he could possibly right then and there. Now he had all the Switches of the Dark Horoscopes under HIS power! But the children wouldn't learn that until it was too late for them..

Cash was the first to master his new powers. His Dark Leo form was gold and brown as opposed to Kou's more silvery white, but there was a world of difference between the two. His mane hung freely on his head, his teeth were inside his mouth but much sharper, the eyes were jet black, and he wore black jeans with black armor on his shins, chest and forearms, with the Leo constellation on his abs. He shared the bulk of his powers with the first Leo, but his Supernova was not the same as Kou's. When he activated it a ten foot tall statue of a evil-looking warrior woman came out of his chest to attack his enemies. Needless to say he was pleased with his new abilities.

JT was the second to fully learn his. His Dark Scorpio form was more of a brass-copper look than Sarina's, and it was much bulkily than hers, with a golden scorpion on his head. His Supernova was able to turn his lower half into a scorpion-like form, with a demonic stinger at the tail's end, and his lower arms became scorpion claws. His face changes into a more evil form, with razor sharp teeth, a smaller tail on the back of his head, and his eyes could fire acid from them in this form. JT was the most effected by what Vilgax told them, but he never felt comfortable with Ben's attitude before Diagon's attack. More than ever he wanted to put Ben in his place.

Emily was a quick study, but having to relearn how to walk, as well as learning about her new powers made her the last to master her abilities. As Dark Sagittarius she wore black pants, spiked armored boots, a armored chestplate with shoulder pads, a bow on each arm, and a helmet that covered all but her mouth and chin, which was covered in a grey mask. On her abs she wore a griddle that had the Sagittarius constellation on it. The overall look was black with purple and lavender highlights, with purple wings to complete the look. Her Supernova lets her control a whirlwind that she can use as she sees fits.

Vilgax was pleased by how fast they learned their new forms' uses! Plus, since they were Ben's friends, or in Emily's case his ex-girlfriend he would not be able to fully fight back, giving them the edge. But little did he know a young boy was watching him right this moment. When he had recorded enough Jimmy Jones ran out as fast as his little legs could carry him. 'Ben is not going to be happy about this' as horrible thought ran along with his internal monolog.

_Later in the evening..._

JK was able to dodge a bullet that day during the three on three battle that ended in their favor, but he wasn't sure the next ones would be looking up for them. Ben was on his last legs, with noticeable bags under his eyes, paler skin and greasy hair. Plus his jacket, shirt, jeans and shoes have seen better days, as they were on the verge of falling apart, with large holes in them all and in the cases of the shirt and jeans bloodstained as well. As Ben limped to the dinner table JK felt quite bad for the Plumber. "Hey, Ben-san, are you sure you're able to keep fighting on like this? You look worse every day and we're all worried about you" JK's words held more truth than Ben would like to admit. He didn't like the fact that the KRC was tending to each and every little mishap he got into. It wasn't something Ben was used to, as he kept expecting Gwen and Kevin to rip on him for being careless, stupid, that sort of thing.

But deep down he was grateful for their help. "I'm cool. It's not like Vilgax is going to give up that easily. I'm always on call when it's hero time!" His response was more a croak than a heroic declaration and he knew that he was on his final hours of life. The mood was somber indeed as everyone was crying about the cruel fate that Ben was handed.

Still JK needed to do something important and while now wasn't the best time, it had to be said. "I'm sorry about insulting your hard work, Yuki-san, Erin-san. I should have been more thoughtful of your feelings on the matter. Can you ever forgive me?" he asked, his voice cracking from both his guilt and the stress of Ben dying right in forth of them.

"Of course we do! To be honest we weren't too sure about using the waterbear anyway" Yuki admitted to her younger friend. "I wanted to use a bunny rabbit as out mascot, but Erin wasn't sure that Manny would like that idea" She had to stop as she fought back tears, the thought of this poor boy dying before his time was too much for the normally happy-go-lucky teenage girl.

Erin stood up to finish what Yuki wanted to say. With her blessing she continued. " We both want you to know while we admittedly overreacted to your words, you were a tad harsh about our hard work. But friendship is something that, thanks to Gentaro-san, a thing of true beauty and we are lucky that we all had this brave boy to not only both bring us closer together, but bring to light our faults and help us work on them so that we may become better people. I hope we'll always be friends" as Erin and Yuki hugged their friend, which made JK happy for two reasons: One, because he got to be hugged by two cuter older girls and the more important reason was that despite all that happened during the month their friendship was stronger than ever before and he was forgiven for snapping at them, although he never intended to hurt their feelings. He then hugged them back as the emotions came flooding out.

As the three sat down Manny dinged a spoon against a glass to get everyone's attention. "Since I'm not sure Ben's gonna make it past the week I felt we should let him know just how much he means to us all" His tone was somber and serious, a far cry from his normal rowdy behavior. "Gen, I'll let you go first, since you grew closest to Ben" Gentaro got up from his chair and began to give his speech.

"Ben-san, I gotta admit I was acting like a ass when I got here. After seeing how you were before I was so blinded by my anger that I was willing to let my friends get hurt. But after seeing how much you've grown and continue to do so, you became a friend to not only me, but my friends as well." He then swallowed hard, trying to moisten his dry throat and continued. "But although you're not doing well you still wish to help out others and have made all of us welcome in your world. You truly have the soul of a Kamen Rider" By now Gen was crying his eyes out, the final part about to begin. "Saying goodbyes are like fractures of the soul; it hurts for a while, but once it's back together it's stronger than ever before. We're...we're friends. Forever...no matter what" Ben was touched by Gen's word's and finally he felt like they were friends. The both of them got up and did Gentaro's special handshake to show to everyone that now they were more than partners. They were best friends.

Yuki was up next. Batting a lock of hair out of her face she began her part. "Ben-san, when I first came here I was not myself. But after you saved me you took the time to let me heal, both mentally and spiritually as well. You were always willing to help out anyone in need, and you always loved to listen to us when we wish to share our dreams, never judging us and giving us hope that we can make them come true." Yuki was by now having trouble reading as her tears were clouding her vision, but she kept on going. "In fact you still are that kind, loving boy we met that day ago. On behalf of all of us I wish to thank you for saving not only us, but our friendships as well." When she finished Yuki gave Ben a salute of thanks to Ben as did JK and the other former Switchers. Soon Yuki was crying up a storm, as Gentaro stroked her head to try and comfort her. She was thankful she has such wonderful friends, but the fact that one of them was dying was too much for her to take. Erin, Ran, Tojiro and JK were crying as well, the emotional pain being too much for them.

Julie did the final part of their speech. "Ben, when we met during that fateful day I knew you were more that other boys your age. Sure we had some bumps on the way here, but we worked our way though them and grew stronger because of that. I think I speak for everyone here that you have grown up a lot during this time. I wish we had more time together, because I...I...I LOVE YOU! Oh Ben, it hurts too much to think about what's happening to you! Why must it be you and not Albedo?!" She couldn't handle it anymore and tore out of the room in tears, as she fell onto the couch and sobbed.

Ben wanted to go to her, to tell her that things will pick up and that they will have a wonderful future together. But he knew that might never happen now, not with the handywork of Albedo's shoddy work killing him slowly and painfully. As Yuki and Ran went over to try and lift Julie's spirits he got a call from a person he hadn't heard from for some time now. "Y'ello, this is Ben Tennyson speaking. May I ask who's calling?" with a somewhat curt tone in his voice. Soon the caller answered him.

"Ben, it's me, Jimmy! I know you don't like being called during dinner, but I found out something super scary about Vilgax! Come to the computer right away and I'll fill you in on what I found out!" his voice full of panic. Ben knew that Jimmy was trustworthy so he excused himself and went to his room and soon he was on FaceTime with Jimmy.

_About ten minutes later..._

"OK, so let me get this straight. Vilgax is trying to get people to Switch on these Dark Switches he made from the Horoscope Switches so he can draw upon this...what did you say it was again" Ben loved Jimmy like a little brother, but since he was the one that blabbed about his secret identity he never fully trusted him. Sure he was a big help during that space plant attack, but still what he did was illegal, although he never intended for Ben's life to fall apart like it did.

"I'm telling you, it's really bad! He's trying to gain all the power of the Black Zodiac, the tortured shadowy side of the Light Zodiac!" as he tried to calm himself down, but the words came out faster than Jimmy would have liked. "You're thinking that Vilgax just gave these Switches to random people, but there's a pattern to his madness this time! Each Zodiac sign has a Black Zodiac counterpart. Somehow Vilgax used the last vertices of Diagon's power to empower the Horoscopes Switches so he can get each user to draw upon these dark energies and store them into the Switches, although he never told any of them other than Pysphon. I was able to sneak in from time to time as his base is not too far from where I live, although he knows someone was spying on him by now." Ben was furious and Jimmy knew it.

"You snuck in by YOURSELF?! How stupid are you?! You have no idea how lucky you are right now! Vilgax is dangerous, Jimmy! Please tell me you'll never, EVER, do something like this again!" Ben raged at the younger boy. Jimmy was more than a bit shaken by Ben's outburst, but he knew he had a valid point.

"Sorry Ben. So, here's the info I was able to find on the Black Zodiac:

Aries's BZ version is **The Selfish King.** People who have this sign are greedy and prone to arrogance. It's represented by Marduk. The selfish king rules in order to receive all victories for himself. **Driscoll **was the best suited to be Dark Aries as he embodies these traits.

Taurus' is** The Slain Demon.** People who have this BZ sign are filled with malice and tend to be braggarts. It's represented by Kingu, who was slain by Marduk according to Babylonian myth used his blood to make the first humans. The Slain Demon inflates the truth to gain the upper hand. That fits **Zombozo** to a tee.

Gemini's is **The Viper.** They tend to kill with words as well as venom. They're sociopaths and love watching people die slow, painful deaths. That can only be one person: **Will Harange!**

Cancer has **The Snake** as its BZ sign. Deceit and treachery are its calling cards. While often underestimated the belly crawling snake takes advantage of others, then during their weakest moments crushes the life from them. **Argit **fits the profile of the Snake quite well.

Leo is** The Lady of Battle.** It's represented by the Queen of Satan herself, Lakhamu, warrior goddess of evil! If provoked they can be murderous and they tend to be rather prideful of themselves. **Cash** is the one best suited to be Dark Leo. I'm sorry, Ben.

Virgo is **The Whirlwind.** Their fury is directed at all who stand in their way. They destroy out of ignorant will towards all who stand in their way. They also suffer from aggravation and tend to be hypocritical. **Charmcaster** is a Whirlwind or from what you IM me about, was.

Libra is** The Ravening Dog,** who represents 666 itself. Accusative as well as insane they attack first and ask questions later or not at all. **Psyphon's** totally that way.

Scorpio is **The Scorpion Man.** Suspicious and deadly, their sting can cause a tortuous death. Sinful and abusive they like to attack at the weakest moments they can find and hold grudges like you wouldn't believe! **JT** is the one who best embodies the Scorpion Man.

Sagittarius has** The Hurricane** as its Black Zodiac sign. Will Withhold their emotions until they erupt, then they will blindly destroy everything around them! Their hearts are filled with hated toward those they fell wronged them in the past and they're destructive and lacking moral conscience of their darker actions. Be careful Ben, **Emily's** the Hurricane we're after.

Capricorn has** The Fish Man** for its BZ counterpart. They draw power from others and their cunning allows them to get close enough to do so at will. They're dangerously powerful and cunning and have leeches as their representative.** Aggregor** is our Fish Man, or was since he bit the big one.

Aquarius is **The Horned Beast.** The Horned Beast is abusive and controlling to those dear to him. The horned beast only shows the side of his personality to gain complete control of his minion. Multiple personalities used to manipulate. They're manipulative and confusing like you wouldn't believe! I'd say **Darkstar's** the best suited for the Horned Best, right?

Finally, Pisces is** The Weapon!** Blinded by anger, they will attack when their way no longer works. They're narrow-minded and suffer from impulsiveness.** Overlord** was the best Weapon Vilgax could ask for"

Ben was stunned. Here they all thought Vilgax was picking people at random, but there's a pattern now! Worse Emily, Cash and JT are in terrible danger right now! He had to get the others and save them, both from Vilgax as well as themselves! "Jimmy, stay here. We're on our way over so don't go out until-"

Ben never got to finish his order. A explosion rocked Jimmy's side and then the screen went black. Ben hollered at Jimmy to answer, but in his heart he knew the truth: Vilgax had found out about his little outings and had silenced him with extreme prejudice.

Ben buried his face in his hands and sobbed. It's bad enough that Vilgax was killing off his old foes, but Jimmy and his apartment as well? This was too much, a nightmare he wished he could wake from and start a new day. But Ben knew that Vilgax had gone too far gone to even bother to save. Soon a though went into his mind and although it did frighten him he knew it had to be done.

He must kill Vilgax once and for all.

**Special thanks must be made to zodiacsignsastrology ****for their Black Zodiac article. As always feel free to review this story in the review section!**


	19. The death of Ben Tennyson Part 2

**Disclaimer: All characters and theme are the property of their respective owners.**

Chapter 19: The Death of Ben Tennyson Part 2

It was times like this Ben wished Jetray was a little faster. He had no idea what fate befell Jimmy and just the thought of something bad happening to him was too much for Ben. Tearing though the night sky he saw a sight that would be burned into his memory forever.

Jimmy's apartment complex was nothing more than a smoldering wreak, body bags and emergency vehicles were all over the place. As Jetray landed he ran to where a small body bag was. To his horror the tag on the foot read: Jimmy Jones. The manta ray alien cried out in sorrow, into the cold night sky.

_Later, when all of the chaos had subsided...somewhat..._

Ben sat down and cried for who knows how long. Jimmy was innocent of all of this and Vilgax went too far, even for his standards. Soon Manny landed by Ben, and he stopped shedding tears to see his largest friend.

"I never thought one of my enemies would go this far for revenge. Because of the fact I was the one to stop him over and over again, everyone in that building is dead. All because of me" The words Ben said were of a profound sadness, something Manny never thought possible from the Omnitrix wielder. "I was so ready to have things calm down after Diagon's death. To have life be simple, fun and exciting, not this chaotic scramble. If only I could go back to that simpler time..."

_A month ago, when Ben gained the _True_ Omnitrix..._

Azmuth was going over all the new features of his greatest work ever, with Ben being all ears. But soon after all the other things were said and done Azmuth had one more thing in store.

"As you are aware of, when you first gained the Prototype Omnitrix it changed you clothing to better suit your alien forms. However this feature was locked when it recalibrated, leaving you with the default forms. This carried over to the Ultimatrix, which has proven to a utter failure! Albedo is nothing but a fool for tampering with forces beyond even my understanding and now you're paying the price for his idiocy!"Azmuth calmed down after a calm speech about the Omnitrix went to his issues with Albedo. Clearing his throat he continued on. "Forgive me, Ben. My behavior was unprofessional. Now then, since my Omnitrix has a customization feature I wanted to know if there was anything you wish to change about the appearance of your alien forms"

Ben was thrilled! "Dude, of course I wanna try it out! Gotta go hero in style, right?" as he fidgeted from his excitement. Soon the two were on at their work, making the new Omnitrix as much a part of Ben as his heroic soul.

Ben kept Wildmutt, Stinkfly, Grey Matter, Ripjaws, Ghostfreak, Cannonbolt, Wildvine, UpChuck, Ditto, Way Big, Swampfire, Jetray, Big Chill, Chromastone, Goop, Rath, Water Hazard, Ampfibian, Armordrillo, Terraspin, NRG, Fasttrack, Clockwork, ChamAlien, Eatle, Spitter, Buzzshock and Articguana the same. However there were a few changes to the others, apart from Alien X who couldn't be changed.

Heatblast was now more muscular with raised shoulder armor. Diamondhead was no longer was formed from the purple stones that Chromastone shared with him, as he was now wearing a green striped black shirt with black pants and a belt that was formed from the Omnitrix. XLR8 was muscular and all the white parts were now green. Fourarms now wore a green striped black workman's shirt, with the Omnitrix making a belt, with black pants that went around his ankles and he had spikes on his upper arms and head, with a handlebar mustache. Upgrade now was a mix of black, green and jungle green. Benwolf was redubbed Fangwolf and the outfit he wore was no longer white with black highlights, but black with green highlights. BenMummy was now Wrap Star, and the Omnitrix symbol now was on his belt, freeing up his chest for more attack opinions. BenVictor's name was changed to MagnoStein, the Omnitrix was now on his belt, and his pants now had green where there was dull silver before. Eye Guy had the Omnitrix placed back onto his belt, and his pants were now a more greenish-black. Humungousaur was now wearing black shorts with a sash made from the Omnitrix. Echo Echo had green highlights on his headphones, backpack, hands and feet. Spidermonkey wore a harness made from the Omnitrix. Brainstorm had a loincloth on him and his neckbrace was now more high tech and greener, with black and green stripes on his head. Lodestar gained a mouth that opened and closed when he talks. Nanomech became more tech-based in his design. Shocksquatch had changed a lot, as since Ben was near adulthood he had grown to his adlut form as well, being more slim and taller, with yellow fur and more muscle definition, with black shorts held up by the Omnitrix as a belt. Jury Rigg now wore a aviator suit with goggles. Needless to say Ben was quite pleased with the changes, as was Azmuth.

_Present time..._

But that was in the past now. Ben had no idea what do now and Manny didn't know how to help him, when Vilgax landed right in front of their shocked faces.

"Such a pity about these people. Some hero you claim to be, Tennyson" he mocked the dying hero, a cruel smile forming on his lips. "Oh, and don't worry about your friends Emily, JT and Cash. They will be my responsibility from now on. I won't worry too much about that. You should be more worried about yourself!" as Dark Sagittarius, Dark Leo and Dark Scorpio walked up to Ben, spoiling for a fight. "AH! my dear friends have come to greet me. But it seems that they no longer like you, Ben. I'd be more mindful of what I would say during my next life, but I doubt what I said would have a chance to sink in. Farewell, Ben 10." As Ben was puzzled by his words Vilgax flew out, leaving both him as well as Manny at the mercy of the final three Dark Horoscopes.

"What did he mean by that? What did he do to you?" Ben begged of them to answer him, that Vilgax only changed their bodies and not their minds. But as with a lot of Vilgax's schemes he would have no such luck this time as when he walked to Emily she punched him right in the eye, sending him onto his butt.

"Save it. We know about the cruel thing you're said about the people of Vilgaxia. You always were so full of yourself, too damn proud to admit you're a utter failure as a human being. Now it's time for you to die." Emily stated, her tone a mix of bitterness, sorrow, and anger. Ben was upset that his friends now wanted to kill him! Not joke about it, as Kevin tends to do, but actually do it! He barely had time to find cover before Dark Sagittarius unleashed a storm of Cosmic Energy arrows at his direction. While the rumble did offer some cover the heat of the arrows burned his jacket, setting it ablaze. Ben was forced to rip it off before it burned more that his back as he selected Swampfire, but before he could counterattack JT struck him with a roundhouse kick, making the alien land on the back of his head.

"I wished it weren't true, that you were the hero everyone believes you to be. But the signs were there, clear as day. I can't let you leave here alive, Ben" Dark Scorpio whispered as he tried to sting Ben, but the enhanced reflexes of Swampfire allowed him to roll away, making the stinger strike the ground instead. "You always were a coward! You never wanted to face your problems by yourself and you're still the same way! I'm sick of it!" Ben never heard JT lose his temper like that before. It frightened him so see such a good friend lash out like this.

"It won't do you any good to beg for mercy. Now we know that Vilgax is the true hero" Dark Leo snarled as he brought his sword over his head, but he was kept from killing Ben by a Big Clap from Manny. "WHY DO YOU INSIST ON HELPING THIS FOOL?! HE IS AS MUCH YOUR ENEMY AS HE IS OURS!" he raged at the four armed Plumber's Kid, but Manny replied by firing all four of his laser guns at the Dark Horoscopes, burning them and forcing them to fall back. Manny then turned to Ben as he reverted to normal form.

"I hate Vilgax as much as the next guy, but C'mon, man! That was cold, telling the poor bastard his world was wreaked like that!" he snapped at Ben, causing him to winch from how loud his voice was. Manny chuckled as he didn't mean to hurt Ben like that. "Sorry, Ben. I know you've been workin' hard on bettering yourself, but I have a terrible time controlling my temper. To be honest I've been acting like a ass too. After Piece died Helen was a total wreak. I should have helped her, but it got to be too much for me" He then hung his head in shame as he told Ben the story of how things fell apart between him and Helen.

_Two months ago..._

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! IF YOU NEVER GAVE HIM THE IDEA TO USE A ID MASK TO GO ON A DATE THEN HE'D STILL BE ALIVE!" Helen exploded at her partner, he features contorted from all her rage. It was just two weeks since Pierce died and even since then things have been quite bad for Manny and Helen. Lately it seemed that they would fight all the time about everything and Manny was getting sick and tired of it all.

"Look Helen! Pierce wanted a life outside of Plumber business and you know it! How was I to know the Forever Knights would attack him like that? You can't lord over him forever, you know!" Manny retorted, causing Helen to fume at the Tetramand.

"I know that he wanted a life outside of what we do, but even if he survived it would have never worked out between those two! But you were always too stubborn to say you're wrong and he paid the price for YOUR stupidity with his life! He was my brother and you just as much killed him as the Knights!" she sobbed. Manny could stand no more of this. He would regret it later, but in anger he slapped Helen to the ground, causing a bruise to form on her left cheek.

"SHUT UP! YOU KNOW I CARED FOR HIM TOO, BUT YOU WERE ALWAYS TOO DAMN BLIND TO SEE THAT! HE WAS LIKE A BROTHER TO ME AND I KNOW AS MUCH AS HE LOVED YOU, HE WANTED TO LIVE HIS LIFE TO ITS FULLEST! NOW I KNOW THAT THE FOREVER KNIGHT THING HAS US ON EDGE, BUT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FOLLOW MY ORDERS, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE!" Manny then caught himself as he finished screaming at the female raptor alien, and he felt horrible about what he did to her. "Look Helen, I didn't mean that. It's just losing Pierce was just so painful to me as well. Please find it in your heart to forgive me, Helen"

But his apology fell on deaf ears. "Just go. I can't even stand to look at you. Go away and never darken my doorstep again, you monster" Helen's words were filled with venom and it hurt Manny to hear that coming from the girl he loved. Turning away as he was about to leave she snarled "I HATE YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!" and then sobbed as he left her alone to her thoughts.

_Now..._

"Wow. That was pretty harsh, dude. So all this time you were avoiding Helen because you couldn't take the pain those memories were causing you. When all of this is over you have to go to her. She needs you more that she lets on. You don't want to do something you'll regret you whole life like I did" Ben calmly told Manny. He was pleased to hear a comforting opinion on his matters with his partner. He would do that for her, IF they can survive the attack from the three Dark Horoscopes.

As they closed in on them Manny started to panic, but Ben was calmer than he normally would be. He welcomed death if it would save his planet from Vilgax's wraith. But to their shock someone knocked them back, giving Ben and Manny breathing room, as the form of Fourze rocketed towards them.

"You didn't think you'd get away that easily. That green flash you when you transform did make it easy for Yuki-chan to track you. We're all sorry about your lost, but you can't do this alone. You need us as much as we need you!" Fourze shot at Ben. Ben was touched that his new friends were always willing to help him out, no matter when and where. Nodding to show he was alright Fourze gave him the thumb's up to show that he would always be his friend, as would the others.

"I gotta admit you guys are smarter than you let on" Ben admitted to the Kamen Rider Club. Ran walked up to where he was and said this to him.

"Age is only part of what makes us wise. It also takes experience and study to make us truly wise in this world. That's what my Aikido teacher taught me. It's also something I wished more people understood" Ran responded. Ben was quite pleased to hear something so kind for this girl. She had been so distant from him he was worried that she hated him. But as it turned out she just needed the time to get to know him better.

JK laughed at the reaction Ben had to what Ran said. "Our Ran's a textbook tsundere, all right" as he placed a arm over her shoulders. To his surprise however she didn't throw him as she normally does.

In fact she was quite OK with this. " It's not the most flattering statement about me, but it is accurate, JK-san" as she gently removed his arm from her person. "Thank you for willing to learn more about me before judging me. It's been so long since I was able to trust an older student like this. You all are truly kind people" When she finished she smiled her brightest smile, which made the group quite happy.

"Our goal is to make sure everyone can be friends. So that we can all trust and love one another and make this world a better place for all" Fourze happily interjected to Ran's earlier statement. But the good cheer would not last as Ben went onto a knee suddenly as he coughed up more blood.

"Ben-san! Hold on, we're on our way" Yuki cried out as she ran towards the prone form of Ben. He tried to tell her he was doing fine, but his body was telling them the truth: Ben didn't have long to live. "Oh, Gen-chan, what are we going to do? I don't want him to die. Please save him" as she did her puppy dog face. Fourze wasted no time and brought up the Medical Switch, using its power to summon the Medical Module. But no matter what he tried Ben showed no sign of improving. Yuki then started to cry, as Fourze held onto her as rocked her gently as she sobbed. "He's been so kind to us. He doesn't deserve to die",Yuki cried, as Fourze hugged her.

Erin and Tojiro were upset too, as Benn had proven himself over and over about how serious he is about his hero duties. As she looked up into the night sky she pleated, "If there's anyone out there who can help Ben, please, save him!" as she looked up at the star above in hopes that something will save their friend, as did Tojio, JK, Ran and Yuki. It hurt Fourze to see his friends like this. He wished that there was something he could do for Ben. But there was nothing he can do.

_Meanwhile, in Earth's orbit..._

A purple streak of light tore though the atmospheric layer of Earth. It's only thought was this: 'Hang on Ben. I'm on my way'

_Back on Earth..._

The KRC wished that the Zodiarts would leave them alone so they could help Ben. But the Dark Horoscopes would give no quarter to the troubled heroes. "If you're done whining about that brat Ben, then get out of our way!" Dark Sagittarius snapped at them, sending them back to reality. "Tell us why he is so important to you all. He's the reason the people of Vilgaxia are dead! Their blood is on his hands!" as she swung her arms out to the sides in fury.

Gentaro could take no more of this. "Vilgax abandoned his people in their time of need. He has killed countless innocent lives in his pursuit of power! He is not your friend at all!" he rebutted. "Friends should care about one another and support their friendship with trust, love, loyalty and understanding. Ben understands that better than anyone. He knows now that what he said was hurtful, but he's willing to make things right. If you can't see that, then you're not his friends at all!" Fourze was close to tears himself. He wasn't sure if his words reached them.

But they did. Emily was taken aback by what Fourze said to them and took a moment to think about what they were about to do. Then she replied, "You're right. Vilgax did attack Earth so many times and Ben always defended it, and he almost never asked for anything in return. I'll admit I always felt like a odd one out due to my disability, so I was desperate to gain any chance to walk again. I hope you can accept out apology, Mr. Fourze" as she extended her hand to shake his.

But Vilgax would have none of that. "How is it you can befriend people so easily?! No matter, I took the time to make sure these Dark Horoscope Zodiarts follow my orders, even until death!" Vilgax then pressed a button on his armored gantlet, sending radio signals that only Emily, Cash and JT could hear. Soon they were in utter pain as Vilgax brainwashed them into becoming berserkers, to the horror of everyone present.

"You are a total bastard! I can't believe you would do this to human beings!" Tojiro shouted in a uproar. " What gives you the right to hurt us like this?"

"EVERYTHING!" Vilgax exploded. "Ben took every chance I had to gain ultimate power. He defeated me over and over, plus he left me for dead. I had to suffer the idiocy of the Flame Keepers, and being a slave to their stupid god, Diagon! I earned the right to this, child! You have no right to tell me otherwise!"

JK went in to defend his friend. "Tojiro-kun has every right to say these things. You claim to be a great ruler, but you're more of a coward than I am" as he flashed him a somewhat cocky smile. That sent Vilgax over the edge.

"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!" It took only these words from Vilgax to spring the Dark Horoscopes to action, D. Sagittarius fighting Ben, D. Leo battling Manny and D. Scorpio taking on Fourze.

"Emily, snap out of it! I know you're a good person!" But Ben's pleads were ignored by the rampaging Dark Sagittarius, as she fired off arrow after arrow of Cosmic Energy power fire. Ben went Heatblast to absorb the fiery arrows, but so far she had the advantage over him. She leapt up onto the buildings nearby and wall jumped up towards the rooftops, with Ben following her as they traded blows on the way there, both badly burning the other. But when they got up she gained the upper hand and heelkicked Heatblast down onto a roof, causing him to skid to a painful halt on his back.

Manny was having no better luck with Dark Leo. "You'd think you would learn your lesson from the last time you played with alien tech, Cash!" But his retort was not answered as Dark Leo slashed into his flesh, while making sure he could not counterattack. But Manny would not give up and slammed all four hands onto Cash's head. The blow did little damage to the lion Zodiart as he fired back with a lion's roar shockwave, making him crash into a building.

Fourze had just enough time to gesture the other Kamen Rider Club members to get to safety. Just when they were able to get inside, they saw that they were lucky enough to dodge Dark Sagittarius's arrow storm. Before she could fire off a second one Heatblast tackled her down and they continued their fight .Fourze breathed in a sigh of relief, but Dark Scorpio was soon upon him, lashing out madly with his clawed hands and tail. Gen placed the Fire Switch into the Driver to become Fire States, but JT was able to jump away from his flamethrower blasts like they were nothing. Dark Scorpio then tried to dive bomb Fourze with his claws, trying to gore the Rider, but his attack failed thanks to the Areo Switch, as the Module it summons allowed Fourze to high jump his way out of the attack's way, causing JT to become stuck on the ground below.

As he fought to free himself JT grunted and groaned like a animal. Soon he was free and angry enough to become his dreadful Supernova form, knocking Fourze away like a ping pong ball. As Fourze tried to get up Dark Scorpio lash out like a wild animal, bringing both his claws and Stinger down in a mad attempt to kill the Kamen Rider, who could do nothing but roll away from him, the attack just baring missing him.

Of course Vilgax knew that the others were helpless without the aid of their friends, so he took the time to knock down the door that kept them from the battle and closed in on them. Yuki recoiled in fear as he walked towards them, as Ran and Tojiro looked at him with hate in their eyes. Erin was the only one able to speak at that moment, since JK was curled into a ball in fear at that moment. "What part of 'We're not part of your insane quest anymore' did you not understand?" she crisply asked of the alien warlord.

Vilgax just smiled and open a box with the Dark Horoscope Switches for Gemini, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. "Is anyone ever not a part of my plans? I know you all missed the power you had from these Switches. Swear undying loyalty to me, rejoin my army and perhaps I will spare your friend's lives" But the answers he got was not the ones he was expecting.

Yuki was first to answer Vilgax. As she swallowed hard she told him this:"It's true that I love space so much. Going to space has been my dream even since I heard these voices calling out to me. I want to go with my friends to greet them kindly, and to share our love with the difference aliens out there. But I want them to be proud of me and what I can do on my own, not with being forced to become a monster to prove my point. I want everyone to see the real me" as she brought her hands together. "I wish to remain myself and become friends with everyone! That's the lesson Gentaro-chan taught all of us!"

Tojiro came up next. "I always loved rock and roll. Ever since I could hold onto a guitar I wanted to share my love of music with everyone. But your Switch forced out a dark side of myself I didn't want to know about. I became willing to hurt others, just so I can get people to love the things I do. But thanks to my good friends I saw the light. Now I know I have to work hard and always strive to better myself, as that's the only way I can share my love of music with the world without hurting anyone. I don't need your 'gifts' now or ever! I'm goin' to be a damn fine rocker and you can't stop me! ROCK N ROLL FOREVER, MAN!"

Erin was the third to share her thoughts with Vilgax. "I was lucky to have a astronaut as a father, even though he never went into space. He is a kind man, with much talent in his field. But he never got to go into space since they thought someone more charismatic would be better suited to go. Ever since that day I never thought much of those who were always so cheerful and joking around all the time. That why went I met Yuki-chan I didn't really like her all that much. But soon I got to know that she shared my passion for space and then we got to know each other better. She also taught me a important lesson that I needed to know. It's not just talent that gets you your dreams. You must be kind and understanding and have a sense of humor, so that when things go wrong you can bounce back from them and become a stronger person for it, something my father never really learned to do." She then placed Yuki's hand in hers as she closed them together in friendship, then turning her face back to Vilgax. "That is why I cannot take back the Switch in good reason. I wish to achieve my goal fairly and without your help" she boldly told him with a stony look in her face.

Ran was the last to go. " I never cared for bullies all that much. After my upper classmen tormented Haru so much that he was so sad, I closed my heart to everyone else and began to hate my older classmates. But I was smothering Haru with my need to protect him and I made him feel weak, perhaps more so than the bullies themselves. But thanks to the Kamen Rider Club I learned to reopen my heart to others and I was able to save my friend from himself. Soon after I made many new friends and gain a stronger bond with Haru-kun. Then when you kidnapped us and turned us into monsters my heart sank. I was being forced to become something I hated: a bully. But once again the Kamen Rider Club saved me as well as my friends as well." Soon after she said these things to Vilgax she pointed at him with a angry glare. "I wish to stay as I am, a human who loves and cherishes her friendships! I doubt you even know about that or cared about friendship at all, for that matter" she declared.

Their word brought new courage to JK, as he uncurled himself and joined them in their defiance of Vilgax and his false promises of power. "We will never join you, squid face! The Kamen Rider Club stays together, no matter what happens!" JK shouted at Vilgax.

Then all five of them did the "Uchuu Kita" pose and catchphrase that Gentaro loves so dearly. This was too much for Vilgax to tolerate.

"SPACE IS ALWAYS HERE, YOU STUPID HUMANS! IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SERVE ME, THEN YOU CAN DIE BY MY MIGHTY HAND!" as he fired off a Ruby Ray at them. The poor KRC was too scared to move away from the blast, as they feared the worst was going to happen to them. But the laser never reached them at all. Something blocked the killing blow from reaching them. "What is this? Who dares to defy the rule of Vilgax?" he angrily demanded.

To the shock of everyone there a woman of about 60-ish stood in Vilgax's way. She wore a purple business suit and had her hair in a short style that hung freely in the wind. But the odd thing about her was she held up a purple energy shield like it was nothing at all.

"Who are you and what connects you to Ben Tennyson?!" Vilgax demanded of the odd woman. She just smiled and shook her head at his childish outburst.

"You don't need to know my name, but you do need to know this" Her eyes grew harsh and gained a purplish-pink glow to them. "Stay away from my grandson, you damn monster"

_A few seconds later..._

The night's calm was shattered by the howls of Vilgax, as he soared though the air in pain, as his body burned with mystical fire, the nine other Dark Horoscope Switches following close by, burning as well. Soon he flew out of Bellwood and out of sight as he crashed into the ruins of Los Soledad.

_A few __**more**__ seconds later..._

Everyone was stunned by the power this woman wielded. They were shocked that she held more power than even a Kamen Rider, perhaps more than Kuuga! Soon she turned to the frightened group as her eyes returned to normal. "Don't worry, kiddos. I won't hurt you. It's just I could see that Vilgax is playing around with things he shouldn't be. Diagon's power being the main thing. I couldn't just leave this planet to fall under the Dark One's rule again, so I came back. I'm glad you were able to become friends with my grandson so quickly. But this thing about him dying is something you don't quite understand all that well" she told the group in a gentle tone, with a whimsical undertone to her statement.

The KRC wasn't sure just what this woman was going on about. But she knew ahead of time that they wouldn't know. After all they are guests here in this dimension.

"I know you're not from around here. You can't fool a fully trained Anodite that easily. I can sense your mana is not the same as everyone else's. But don't worry, I won't hurt any of you." She then placed her hands on her hips and continued on. "Now then you're all wondering why I know about Ben's little problem right now. It's simple really" Her face faulted as this was not a memory she wanted to recall. "It's because I've dealt with this before"

**Be here next time for the exciting conclusion of Ben's battle with the Dark Horoscopes! But there's still the matter of Vilgax and the powers of Diagon and the Black Zodiac falling under his control! Can Ben, Gen, Manny and the Kamen Rider Club stop Vilgax or is everyone DOOMED? Plus what does Verdona know about Ben's issues? Could she have the answer to everyone's questions?**

**Let me know what you all thought of this story so far in the review section. I'm always looking for ways to improve myself! Until then fare thee well and I'll see you next time!**


	20. The death of Ben Tennyson Part 3

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners.**

Chapter 20: The death of Ben Tennyson Part Three

_Back at the house Ben and the others are staying in..._

Julie was worried sick about the others. Ben flew off in a utter panic over Jimmy and the KRC went after him as well, although Gen did call Emoto over so he can watch over the house with Julie. Truth be told, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but with Ship with Gwen and Kevin offworld, what choice did she had? Soon Emoto pulled into the driveway and stumbled out of the car, out of his usual clumsiness.

"Forgive my coming at this late hour, but I have those test results you wanted on Ben" he said as he pulled out a disc with Ben's latest medical history. Julie soon placed it into her laptop and was stunned by what she saw. In Ben's blood were these things that look like little landmines.

"Who on Earth could have done this?" she gasped as she covered her mouth in fear. These machines look like something out of a nightmare and there they were, as clear as day in front of their eyes!

Emoto wiped his glasses as he went over the data. "So far all I was able to prove is that these are not from your universe, nor mine as well. But judging by how they're reacting to Ben's DNA they may not be compatible with Ben's genetic coding. It would seem that they react violently every time he changes form, more so when he went 'Ultimate'. I would imagine that after trying to 'correct' Ben for so long their programming has been irreversibly corrupted and are now breaking down his DNA to its base level. Ben was never meant to have these in him at all" he stated, but his face held the same look of horror as Julie's. "Now they are on their final stage. I doubt Ben will live throughout the night. I'm terribly sorry for your lost, Miss Yamamoto" Julie then broke down completely and sobbed uncontrollably on the table.

As he sighed out of frustration out of this hopeless situation he told Julie, " But there's one factor I hadn't counted on. There's alien DNA in Ben's coding, but I have no idea where it came from" as he wiped the sweat off his brow. 'Just what are you, Ben Tennyson?' he thought as he sat by the sorrowing girl.

_The Ruins of Jimmy Jones' apartment..._

"Wait a minute, you're telling us that Ben's your Grandson? Then why doesn't he have your powers?!" Tojiro exclaimed to the alien woman.

The older woman chuckled and went on to explain what was going on. "First off, I should have told you my name. It's Verdona Tennyson. I'm Max's ex-wife, if that's the answer you needed to hear first. Second, I'm a Anodite, a creature of pure mana. We're capable of reproducing with just about any alien species in this universe, although the chances of the offspring getting our powers is painfully slim. So far only my Granddaughter Gwen has the 'spark' to use these powers, but she needs much more training to use them to their full potential" she monologued in a cheery tone of voice.

However that still left one thing needed to be addressed and again, Tojiro was the one to interject. "If Ben's part alien from birth, then why's he dying now? It that because he lacks this spark?" he asked Verdona in a blind panic.

Again, Verdona had the answer. "No, even if a Anodite's offspring lack the spark they still live full lives. There must be an unknown factor at work here that's causing Ben this much pain, but since we Tennysons don't like to share much about ourselves his condition has been misdiagnosed all this time. But I have no idea what it is that's doing this to my Ben" she choked out, letting them know that she loves her grandson and wishes as much as they do what's causing him this much pain. Then Julie called Yuki on her cellphone and she did not have good new regarding Ben.

"Guys! Professor Emoto found these creepy nanobots in Ben's bloodstream! We think it may be the cause of his problems, but we were able to find only one way to cure him of this." Julie half-screamed into the phone out of panic, but Yuki was able to get the idea of what she was saying.

"What is it then? I hope it's something that doesn't hurt Ben too badly" Yuki whimpered.

Julie sighed out of sadness. "It's far worse than that. We have to kill Ben to purge his system of these things. I hate the idea too, but if they're allowed to simmer in Ben any longer then they'll expel out of Ben and infect everyone on Earth, including you!" Julie then started to cry again, as did Yuki. "I wish there was another way, but there isn't. I know Ben would hate himself forever if he was causing people so much pain and he couldn't do a thing to stop it. He would want it this way." Before Yuki could reply she hung up and began to cry hard, as Emoto was left with no idea on how to help her.

Back to where the KRC was, Yuki was sobbing too. But she still had a job to do. "Julie-chan says he have to kill Ben to stop these nanomachines from taking over every living thing on Earth. Oh Verdona-sama, I'm so sorry about this" as she buried her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry too, kiddo. But Ben is too much like his grandfather at times, always willing to give up his life in the greater good. That's part of why I left him. Knowing that he would die for this universe was too much for me to take. But I'm glad Ben has such great friends like you" as she hugged Yuki. "I hope Ben is able to save his friends before his time comes"

_Back with Ben..._

Heatblast was losing his battle with Emily, AKA Dark Sagittarius. To think that all this time such a sweet, caring girl had such ANGER in her heart. As he frantically tried to dodge her arrows, a few managing to hit him dead on, he never gave up on trying to reach the girl that he once loved.

"EM! It's me, Ben! Try and fight the hold Vilgax has on you! This Zodiart thing you are, it isn't really you!" he called out, but she was blinded by sheer hated, Vilgax's brainwashing submerging all other parts of her psyche. It didn't help things at all when the Omnitrix timed out, leaving Ben helpless before the wraith of Emily.

Ben frowned at the piece of alien tech he wore on his wrist. "I guess I pissed off Azmuth more than I thought" he thought outloud. Soon he was on the run, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, hoping to stay at least one step ahead of this opponent.

_Fourze's side of the battle..._

Fire States was doing a good job keeping JT away from the populace, but other than that, it wasn't really helping Gentaro. Dark Scorpio was too wild for Gentaro's tastes, as he wouldn't give him a slight break to switch to another form. Cosmic would be _Sugoi_ right about now. "JT-san, I don't know you all that well, but you are not a savage beast. You're Ben's friend, and deep down you know it too" Gentaro never liked hurting people at all, preferring to settle things peacefully. But Zodiart Switches bring out the worst behavior in their Switchers, leaving him little choice. While he knew the other Kamen Rider Club member hated seeing their classmates get hurt too, he often worried about the odd chance a dear friend would be tempted by a Switch's power, like Tomoko nearly was. That fear came true when Vilgax came to his world and forced not only his new friends Tojiro, Erin and Ran to become mutant monsters, but he strong-armed Yuki, the girl of his dreams into being a Horoscope as well. Worst of all, only Yuki, Emoto-san, Tojiro, Erin and Ran survived the experience. If only JT could see the light of friendship once again, then he could settle things with Vilgax once and for all.

JT, as the brainwashed Dark Scorpio, kept lashing out in his Supernova form, missing due to the simple fact that since he could no longer think for himself he really can't plan his attacks out. To make things worse than they already were, he was in danger of self destructing from overuse of his Supernova powers. Though Vilgax failed to inform JT of that factoid, and so he kept at his dark duty, trying to kill Kamen Rider Fourze. A strong tail whip knocked Fourze out of Rider form and back to being Gentaro Kisaragi, the boy who wishes to make friends with everyone at school. Though he was human now, his fighting spirit was the same as always as he charged right at the monster that was JT, willing to continue the fight.

_Manny's side of the battle..._

Manny however was doing quite well on his side. Dark Leo missed a killing strike on his head, letting the Plumber's Kid get some good hits on Cash. With a steady stream of jabs, uppercuts, body blows and haymakers he forced the Dark Horoscope back against a wall. Taking advantage of this development he held Dark Leo's arms with his lower arms and kept punching D. Leo's face with his upper ones. "Aw yeah, who's the big cat now, huh?" as he went about punching Dark Leo's face more. He was so engrossed in this that he failed to pay any mind to a giant finger tapping his shoulder. Turning around to see who it was when it got to be too much for him he shouted "WHAT?!" but soon turned pale when he saw the giant form of a evil warrior amazon. Swallowing hard he meeped out "Crap" as the Supernova power of Cash threw him down into the sewers.

Now that he was free, Dark Leo went about attacking Manny, this time flanked by his Supernova's ability to summon a energy based statue of the Queen of Satan herself, Lahamu. Manny was angry that his energy pistols had overheated, leaving him no long ranged attack to level the playing field. He didn't like running away from a fight, but he knew when he would lose a fight and turned tail and retreated until his guns cooled down. As his heart beat against his chest he cursed the fact that Dark Leo and his crummy statue were able to keep up with him. So he ran for his life with all he could still muster, but he knew he couldn't run forever. Whining out "CCCcccrrrraaaapppppp!" he sprinted as fast as he could, the two monsters clipping at his heels.

_Back to Ben's side..._

It was times like this that Ben admitted to himself that he HATED Gwen and Kevin at times. Sure they always were looking out for him and they can be nice at times, but they were more often than not critical of his choices. Plus they weren't very focused on hero duties as he was some of the time, preferring to kiss and cuddle. How he wished for a better partner that those two! The Kamen Rider Club was a great help, but they weren't able to fight the things Ben has to battle with. Julie was a good fighter, but that was in part of Ship's powers allowing him to form a suit of armor for his girlfriend and he was offworld with Gwen and Kevin. As was it tended to be with his luck the Omnitrix recharged just when he ran out of rooftop to go to. As Dark Sagittarius closed in he tried to dial in Magnostein, but with his vision clouding he selected something new. It looked like a gorilla made of building blocks, its colors being red, yellow and blue. Looking at his hands he muttered "OF all the times to shake down a new guy!" Ben shrugged it off and went into a fighting pose as he boomed out "All right, Emily. Let's see you play with Blox."

Emily fired off two arrows at Blox but while parts of him were knocked off he felt no pain as he regenerated the damaged parts. Smiling about the world of possibility he had with this new alien, Ben quipped "What's the matta? Don't wanna play with Blox?" Emily tried to punch Blox in the face, but he reformed into a crude rug of sort as he shifted her up into the air then twirled around in a mock tornado of sort with his shape shifting ability, then when he over her he went back to his default form and with a two handed punch sent her back down to the cold concrete below.

Turning the Omnitrix off to recharge Ben smiled at how awesome Blox turned out to be! "I am so going to write Azmuth another thank you note! This is perhaps the best Omnitrix ever!" he sing-songed in jubilation. Of course being the hero he is he called up the KRC to see how they were holding on so far.

_Kamen Rider Club, ground_ level...

Yuki's phone rang loudly with the offvocal version of her popular song "Hayabusa-kun". Since they were in hiding right now she answered right away. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk right now. Could you call again at a better time?" she polity asked of the unknown caller.

"Yuki, it's me, Ben. I was able to get Emily off my back. How are you guys doing?" Ben asked, wheezing as he was out of breath at the moment. Even just talking on the phone was taxing on his already frail body.

"We're doing OK, I guess. Someone saying she's your grandma is here with us. To be honest she kinda scares us" the space otaku whimpered. There was something a bit odd about this woman and it frightens the Kamen Rider Club to no end. Still Yuki was able to hand Verdona the phone.

Instantly her mood improved as Ben was her second favorite grandchild and it's been so long since she talked to him. "Heya kiddo! I really wish I could call you at a better time. From what Julie told your friends we have to kill you to get rid of these nasty little buggers in your bloodstream" Verdona sighed sadly about this horrid news. It's never easy when you know you'll outlive your grandchild and Verdona knew that well. She collected herself and asked Ben a important question. "Just where did these nanites come from, Ben?" her tone being inquisitive.

Ben went on about how Alpha Nanite attacked Ben's home dimension and how both of them were sucked into Alpha's homeworld during their fight. Soon Ben met with Rex, a former agent of Providence, a taskforce assigned to contain or kill harmful EVOs, creatures formed from faulty nanites. Ben continued on about how Rex could cure these mutants, turning them back to normal. While their first meeting was rocky they soon hit it off and were able to contain Alpha once again in the Null Void. What Ben didn't count on what how angry she got over this latest news bit.

"You mean to tell me that these people made nanites that they couldn't fully control? And that you were infected by them during your stay? How dare they be so foolish to fool with things beyond their ability to understand!" her voice shaking from her barely contained anger about this injustice. "I'm going over to Rex's dimension and settle their hash!" as she crushed the phone and teleported to Rex's world, leaving the Kamen Rider Club at the mercy of Dark Scorpio, who had managed to give Fourze the slip. As the giant monster that was once JT approached the terrified club members they were all wondering one thing and that thing only:

Is Gentaro alright?

_On the_ rooftops...

Ben didn't like that Verdona left the KRC undefended and that she was going to attack Rex for something that was beyond his control. But he soon had more pressing matters as he heard the bloodcurdling howl of Dark Sagittarius as she activated her Supernova, rocketing upwards in a dark hurricane at Ben. Panicking he dialed up Terraspin and flew as fast as the turtle could fly. Ben could only just stay away from Emily as her hurricane threw debris at the Geochelone Aerio, as he weaved in and out of openings in the cityscape, trying his darnest not to get hit by any of the objects Emily was not hurling at him out of sheer malice due to Vilgax's brainwashing. He couldn't counter her attacks, as that would mean that he would have to stop to blow the items away, giving Dark Sagittarius the chance to knock him out of the sky and to his death.

'This is gettin' me nowhere. I gotta land and think of a better plan than play tag with Emily' Terraspin thought to himself. Taking a sharp turn downwards he swerved back and forth as he went to land on the ground, hopefully getting a edge against the Horoscope Zodiart. Dark Sagittarius kept on attacking in a blind rage, her voice nothing more than wild shrieks and roars as she forced the hurricane to propel her feet first into Terrspin's kick hit him dead on, as he landed hard onto the ground by the unconscious Fourze. Bringing his head up he saw that Gentaro was unable to battle right now, leaving him alone to deal with Dark Sagittarius. "Aw man! Can't a turtle catch a break here?" but neither Fourze nor Emily payed any mind to his complaints. Soon she would approach the two and blow them away. Ben would not allow that to happen.

Twisting the dial of the Omnitrix he went with an old favorite: XLR8. Clicking his visor into place he sped circles around Emily's hurricane, trying to dispel the dark force. As he ran around and around the twirling winds began to wobble from the strain Ben was placing on them, as Emily fought to stay upright in the increasingly violent storm. At first XLR8 thought nothing would happen, as the hurricane kept its steady pace despite his effects to hinder it. His hard work began to pay off as it started to break apart...into two side eddies.

"Aw Dammit!" the Kineceleran swore as he now had TWO hurricanes to deal with! While both were not heading toward Fourze they were causing more damage that the singular hurricane was doing on its own, as one went left and the other right, ripping vehicles, windows, litter and puddles of water into the air as the cocktails of fury span nonstop. 'The media is going to have a field day with this' XLR8 bemoaned in his mind.

Dark Sagittarius was having trouble keeping track of both hurricanes at once. Her mind ached from the mental strain of trying to control two hurricanes at the same time. Her anger getting the best of her she tried to call them back but the feedback from doing so was too much for her to take, knocking her on her back and on the ground. Spewing a feral battle cry she fired off Cosmic Energy arrows at XLR8, but he dodged them with a awkward ease as he jumped up and bicycle kicked Dark Sagittarius, staggering her backwards. Before the Omnitrix could time out he changed to Jetray, grabbed her in his tail and flew up into the sky, then rocketing towards the ground below. Before he could hit the earth he stopped, let go of Dark Sagittarius and blasted her with both his eye lasers and tail laser, making her hit the ground hard enough to make a crater as her Zodiart from blew up from all the damage it took during her fight with Ben.

As the Omnitrix timed out as he landed, Ben ran to where Emily was laying. Trying to get to where she was by sliding downwards but falling down near the end of his descent, Ben scrambled to get up as he fought to get by her side.

"EMILY! Hold on, I'm coming to get you out of there!" the Wielder of the Omnitrix hollered in absolute terror, hoping that he didn't hurt her too badly. Thankfully she began to stir from her short slumber as she saw Ben knelling by her side, holding her hand as tears streamed from his eyes.

Emily awoken, her eyes fluttering as she got up on her feet to Ben's pleasant surprise. "Muti-tasking was never my strong point" she groaned as she held her head in one hand, Ben holding the other to support her as they got out of the crater. Emily wasn't too pleased with herself as Ben let her sit down by Fourze's sleeping form. "Oh Ben, I'm so sorry about all of this. I should have never have let Vilgax trick me like that! What'll Gwen think of me now?" as hot tears of shame flowed from her tired eyes.

Ben placed his arms around her and allowed her to get all the pain out. "I'm sure she'll still see you as her best friend. What Vilgax did will never change how she feels about you, Em. Plus I acted like a jerk back there so you do have a valid point about me" as Emily hugged him back. "I take it you still hate me. I'm OK with that. After the way I acted I can see your point" Emily just smiled and kissed his forehead, leaving Ben quite stunned by her actions.

"I wasn't truly being a good friend myself. Let's just be friends from now on, OK?" a bright smile forming on her face as Ben did Gentaro's special handshake to cement their newfound trust in one another. Soon after she kissed him on the lips and whispered, "Godspeed, Ben" in his ear. Now that the Omnitrix recharged AGAIN Ben did something Emily wasn't expecting.

"You wanna pick my next guy? Think of it as a way of saying I trust you" he beamed.

Emily got a goofy grin on her face. "Anything but Spidermonkey, Kay?" she giggled as she selected Humungousaur. Ben gave her a enthusiastic thumb's up as he went underground, looking for Dark Leo, who he guessed went into the sewers last time he saw him. "Good luck, Ben" Emily wished but Ben was long gone by the time she said that.

_The sewers of Bellwood..._

Manny was furious! His pistols still have not cooled down enough and both Dark Leo and his Supernova 'girlfriend' were pissing him off like nothing else! "You both are workin' my last nerve! Can't ya lay off for one measly minute?" he begged, but both parts of Dark Leo kept on attacking him with nonstop fury. Manny thought this was his end, dying alone and unloved. He welcomed it as he didn't want to face Helen's wraith again.

Ben however ran up and decked the giant amazon right in the face as he roared out "Humungousaur!" Not stopping there he punched the giant in the stomach twice, then uppercutted her into the air and before she could land Ben grasped both hands together and slammed Cash's Supernova ability into the water, dispelling it to Dark Leo's utter outrage.

D. Leo's roars echoed across the old chambers of Bellwood's sewer system as he tried to decapitate Humungousar, but as the Forever found out he was very agile for his size, ducking into a tunnel then kicking him in the butt, sending him down on his face.

"Consider this payback for kicking my ass with Techadon powers!" Ben laughed as Dark Leo leapt up and tried again. This time Humungousaur caught his claws in each hand and broke them like they were chocolate bars. Of course chocolate bars don't scream in pain when you break them. Ben wasted no time and kicked him away from him then pressed the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. Nothing happened.

"Oh, right. I can't go Ultimate anymore" he nervously laughed as he dusted his hands off. "Guess old habits die hard" then stomped hard onto Dark Leo, blowing up his Zodiart form and knocking Ben out of Humungousar from. Ben landed on his back, his clothes torn up even more now from the blast. His shirt was now without a left sleeve and his jeans' pockets were no longer usable.

"BEN! You alright there, buddy?" as Manny leapt to where Ben was right now. Ben was in a bad state, blood flowing from his nose and bruises everywhere on his body. "Ben, please let me finish off the last of the Dark Horoscopes! You're going to die if you keep this up any longer!" he ordered. Ben would have none of that as he got up and assented the ladder back onto street level. "I'm going to die either way. Might as well go out with a bang! Keep a eye on Cash for me, will ya?" Ben asked as he pried open the manhole cover and went off to where the Kamen Rider Club members were at the moment.

Manny crossed his arms and huffed out "Leave it to Ben to make a Tetramand babysit some punkass loser" But he smiled as Ben went off to die a hero's death. He wished he had his bravery. "Go give Dark Scorpio Hell!" he wished.

_Where our KRC heroes are now..._

So far Dark Scorpio was just standing there, in his Supernova form, swinging his tail back and forth. Nethertheless it freaked the KRC members out a lot! As JT hissed at them, hoping one of them would be willing to stand against him, Yuki prayed for help. Her wish did come true, but it did not come in the form of Gentaro. It came in the shape of Rath.

"LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN, JT! RATH DON'T LIKE STUPID SCORPIONS TRYIN' TO HURT HIS FRIENDS! IF YOU WANNA TANGO WITH SOMEONE, THEN TANGO WITH THE RATHO!" knowing full well that did not rhyme at all. But as Rath, Ben couldn't care less as he grabbed Dark Scorpio's tail and threw him out of sight, and away from the Club members.

"Thanks, Ben! But where's Gentaro-san?" Erin asked of the tiger alien.

"Um, Rath doesn't know where Gentaro Keystotheferrari is right now. But he's with one of Rath's buds, so we're cool, right?" His wording was odd to say the least, but his meaning was clear as crystal.

"Ben-san, are you alright? Please don't overwork yourself too hard" Ran begged of Rath, but he just shrugged.

Yuki went over to where the tigerman was and looked at him with pleading eyes, hands held over her heart. "Ben, someday we will find a way to help you. I hope that when we do go into space you'll join us there! Because you're more than a friend to us. You're a dear friend to all, not only us but all of Bellwood. Thank you Ben-san" she happily stated to Ben, as Ran and JK nodded their approval, Tojiro gave his thumb's up and Erin grinned cheerfully at Ben. Rath was moved to tears by their fondness of him, as well as their commitment to bettering the lives of all they know.

Dark Scorpio took the time Rath was busy with the KRC to stab him in the back with his tail, but that only made Rath angry.

Grabbing his tail and ripping it off Rath roared "Stinging me. Is. Not. Cool. At. ALL! Let's see how you like getting you tuscus whooped, Dark Scorpio!" as he jabbed both claws into his chest, destroying the form of Dark Scorpio and returning him to being JT. "That's what ya get for messin' with Rath!" he spat at the trembling JT. JT tried to run, but he ran right into Manny, who was holding Cash on his shoulder.

"I think you both need a time out!" as Manny grabbed JY, placed him over his free shoulder and walked off to parts unknown.

As the KRC cheered Ben as he returned to being the boy they knew and loved, he felt better than he did in a long time. Not only did he have new friends that rock out loud and supported him, unlike Gwen and Kevin, he had a better relationship with Julie as well. Things were starting to look up for the Omnitrix holder. But the good cheer was shattered by a evil laugh that pieced the night.

Floating above them was Vilgax himself. But he was in a bad state, with his upper armor utterly destroyed, leaving his arms and chest bare, his sword broken beyond repair as it hung by his side and his pants were looking threadbare. His body was covered in oozing sores and his right eye was gone, the hole that held it sealed tight by his Ruby Ray, leaving a terrible burn scar on his face. But he looked like a kid in a candy store, as Yuki, Erin, JK and Ran recoiled at the sight of him.

"Aw, good! You know to fear me, like good children! But It's too late for all of you! For now I hold the ULTIMATE POWER! Behold all 12 Dark Horoscope Switches!" as he indeed had all 12 floating in a circle around him, glowing purple in the black winter night sky. "Soon I will rule over all with Diagon's power!" he proclaimed as he opened the Dark Nebula over his head.

"EVERYONE, GET BACK INSIDE AND FIND COVER! I'll deal with Vilgax!" Ben shouted at them. They didn't need to be told twice as they went to find cover as Ben activated his last transformation. Soon Way Big was on the scene as he charged right at Vilgax, but he was repelled by his dark power.

Vilgax chuckled and turned into his true form, a giant alien octopus. But now it was about Way Big's size and in each tentacle it had a Dark Horoscope Switch embedded in it. "Time to die, grandson of Max!" he snarled as he whipped Way Big with mindless anger. Way Big fought back with all his might, punching, kicking and slashing at Vilgax, but he was losing this fight and he knew it. Soon he was able to get the upper hand when Vilgax missed his head with a tentacle, letting him get some distance away from the former ruler. Vilgax wrapped four tentacles around Way Big's arms, but he was able to fire off a cosmic blast, sending Vilgax recoiling in pain and freeing himself.

But Way Big was not strong enough to take on the Black Zodiac empowered Vilgax. He was able to slash some bits and pieces from Vilgax, but overall Vilgax held the upper hand as he whipped Way Big with no mercy nor remorse. As a tentacle coiled on his throat, crushing his windpipe Way Big tried to call for help, but he was only able to moan in pain, unable to form a word nor a sentence.

Vilgax smiled evilly and prepped a killing blow as his eye glowed a ominous purple. "Don't be so sad, Ben. Soon you'll be with your friends, The Galactic Enforcers. I killed them without even breaking a sweat" he taunted the To' Kostar. But his word awoke a fire that he should not have unleashed.

_Five years ago..._

"Do you think I'll ever be as big a hero as you guys?" young Ben asked Ultimos, looking at his heroes with childhood awe. They were nice enough to visit Ben during his summer vacation and Ben was quite pleased to have them around.

"Of course, young man! You have a hero's heart beating in your chest! You'll do us proud!" Ultimos stated as he rubbed Ben's hair.

"If only Tetramands has your willpower, Ben" Tiny admitted to Ben as her boyfriend Synaptak floated nearby. Ben was on cloud nine at that moment. He would always treasure this memory.

_Present day..._

The fact that Vilgax killed the Galactic Enforcers, but also brag about it was too much for Ben to take, as he regained his strength and tore the offending tentacle off of Vilgax, leaving him howling in pain. Way Big was too enraged to even think straight as he punched the dark ruler with the force of a earthquake with each blow, trying to stop his greatest foe once and for all. Stopping to catch his breath he thundered "This is for everyone you ever hurt!" as he went about starting his sure kill attack. Vilgax lashed out with utter rage as Way Big swatted his tentacles away. Knowing that this was his last chance at killing Ben he floated over his head and twisted his tentacles into a drill, trying to gore Way Big. But his last attack came out too late for Vilgax as Way Big fired off a mighty beam of energy from his arms, crossed in a X over his chest as the powerful light poured out of them, hitting Vilgax and engulfing his body in the light of Ben's final attack. He was forced far away from Bellwood as he exploded in the night sky. Way Big roared in triumph as his victory shout set off every car alarm in the city and upset just about every dog there as well.

_Soon after..._

Fourze groggily got up to see Emily's face looking at him. As he sat up with some difficulty he murmured "Is Ben-san OK? Dark Scorpio was tougher than my Scorpio ever was" as he stood up, his legs buckling.

Emily got up and help Fourze steady himself. "I don't know. I heard screaming coming from a few blocks ahead, but it would take some time to get there on foot" she huffed. Fourze for once thought ahead and activated the Water Switch in his Driver.

**"Water on!"**

A stream of water flowed from the Water Module, making a makeshift river of sorts. Removing the Water Switch he placed Board in and brought its Module to life.

**"Board on!"**

Emily was impressed with Fourze's gear. "Do you mind if I tag along, Mr. Fourze?" she squeaked out of pure joy. Fourze nodded and she jumped into his arms, as he surfed his way over to where the action was. But something was on her mind. "I wonder where Cash and JT went off too?" she pondered as she furrowed her brow.

_Bellwood Youth Center..._

A small mob of teenage girls was assembled before the auditorium. As Manny tapped his microphone he said "OK, I bet you're all wondering just who's to blame for helping Vilgax. As it just so happens I have the two with me now" as Cash and JT went on stage wearing diapers and bibs. As he smiled at their misfortune he asked of them "Can you tell these cuties just what you are?"

"WE'RE POO-POO BABIES!" Cash and JT sobbed as they danced around in their diapers as the cute girls there all laughed at them.

"That's what ya get for letting Vilgax trick you so easily, boys!" the Tetramand laughed as he crossed all four of his arms.

_Around the same time as Manny is mocking the two former Dark Horoscopes..._

The final battle between Ben and Vilgax shook the city like Hell itself wanted to come up. Thankfully no further damage was done, though everyone but Erin was spooked by the mock earthquake.

As she dusted her skirt off she wondered just why her friends were still shaking in fear. "C'mon guys, it wasn't as bad as we first thought it would be!" she grinned, hands on her hips.

Yuki regained her composure and went over to Erin. "The buildings in America aren't up to code on earthquake safety as other counties! We're lucky that we weren't crushed" Yuki scolded as her hair flew freely in the wind. Nearby Ran and Tojiro were helping JK find a bathroom, as all the fighting scared him enough to pee his pants.

Erin shook her head at Yuki and looked her in the eyes. "Look, I know the buildings in America aren't like the buildings elsewhere, but they can't be that bad, right?" as she flashed a unsure grin. Surely enough Way Big stomped his way towards the group, causing plaster to fall down in dust clouds. Erin gromped Yuki in fear as she mewed "Gomen" in apology

"It's OK. We're just not used to this kind of architecture, Erin-san" as she stroked her hair, hoping Erin will calm down. Although that won't happen soon as the KRC saw Way big smiling down on all of them.

Ran was the first to see the Omnitrix symbol on his chest and recognized him as another form of Ben. "Ben-san, I can't believe you're a Ultraman! How impressive!" as she grasped her hands together out of happiness.

Yuki and Erin were ecstatic about this. "Ben's an Ultraman! Ben's a Ultraman!" they screamed in total fangirl mode, jumping up and down happily while holding hands. The two love space and they both know Ultramen were known as great protectors of the universe back home. While Way Big wasn't a true Ultraman he looked close enough that he could pass as one, given that one pays no mind to his Omnitrix symbol. Tojiro and JK were looking at him in total awe, too starstuck to say anything, but their faces were looking quite pleased with this new bit of info.

Way Big chuckled and powered down as Fourze and Emily approached them and Emoto parked his car, getting out with Julie. "I get that a lot when I go Way Big" he admitted to his friends, as Julie hugged him close, sobbing. "I'm sorry too, Julie. I wanted to live my life for you, but all I was able to do die for you. Some boyfriend I turned out to be" he bitterly remarked about his impending doom.

Emoto walked over to the two and gave them words of comfort. "Ben, you did more in your life than most men do with theirs. You are indeed the hero Mt Ohsugi says you are" Ben was happy to hear that, though he had no idea who this person was.

Fourze placed Emily back on her feet and powered down, crying. Running towards Ben he hugged him and broke down completely. "I wanted to help you, but in the end I couldn't do anything at all for you. I need to improve as a Kamen Rider. I also need to say how sorry I am for trying to hurt you" Ben hugged him back and said this to him.

"Don't stress over that. We both needed to work on improving ourselves" as they fistbumped, being the greatest of friends as Julie and the Kamen Rider Club cheered them on. But that happiness was not going to last as soon after Ben fell to the ground, dead, as the nanites leaked out of him in a silvery cloud, though they crumbled to dust soon after, the strain of trying to keep up with Ben being too much for the tech that made them up. As the entire group was horrified by this terrible news, they were unable to pay attention to a black cockroach looking machine as it crawled out of a gash in Ben's chest, heading out to parts unknown,

_Until now, that is..._

Vilgax was never going to walk again. He knew that deep down in his heart. Pieces of his arms and chest were gone, his skin was burned with second and third degree burns and his legs were shattered. But his spirit was as strong as ever. As he laid on the ground by Los Soledad, the broken Horoscope Switches laying all around him, he pondered what to do with his life now. His last eye caught a glimpse of a black bug combining with a mass of others into a beautiful Latina girl, a cruel smile on her face as she held George's sword.

"Lord Diagon was not pleased with how much you begged of him to share his power. He knew that you planed on killing him, so when he extended his reach over this world he placed a spell that would split his power into three equal parts. One for you, one for me and the last one went to Julie Yamamoto, though no one else is the wiser about that" as she kicked Vilgax in the head. "Still you don't deserve to live in that shattered husk of a body and I, as the Hivemind of the Nanochips, NEED a stronger body to take my, no, our revenge on both Ben and Julie" she growled as a wicked smile formed on her lips. "It was easy for the Decoy Queen to place a sleeper agent in Ben during our first attack, and when Ben broke our heart we activated his body's self-destruct function, though neither the Plumbers, nor these dimension hoppers were the wiser, plus thanks to Alpha Nanite throwing a hissy fit over Ceaser, Verdona will destroy Rex's world, leaving Ben with no allies strong enough to stop Diagon's revenge from beyond the grave. But you will not be here to see that" she purred as she somehow was able to open the Dark Nebula with the shattered Horoscope Switches and with dark magic casted Vilgax's soul into its depths, not caring where the Hell it ended up.

Soon she combined with his ruined body, as the thought stuck her like lightning. As a new eye formed in the eye socket she realized the truth.

"Ben Tennyson is DEAD" as she smiled. It was going to take some time to get Vilgax's body up and running again, but she had that time and soon, time would run out for everyone on Earth...

**As always please let me know what you think of this in the review section! We're now on the homestretch! **


	21. Gen 10 cue catchy theme song

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners.**

Chapter 21: Gen 10

_Not far from Los Soloedad..._

"Keep firing men!" It was not the most thought plan in the history of Bellwood, but something had to be done. As the army of Bellwood attacks the form of Vilgax they wonder just where in the Hell is Ben Tennyson? Ben did scare the adults of Bellwood enough to force the mayor to make a secret task in case Ben were rouge, but it also was to stop any of Ben's enemies from attacking the general populace. The general was not pleased that Vilgax kept at a steady pace, no matter how much machine gun fire hit him. As Vilgax got closer to his line of sight he gasped "What in the world are you?", as the former ruler had changed a great deal.

No longer was the soul of Vilgax in his own body. Now Elana or rather the Hive Queen, was the body's owner. Though she was never going to be herself again, as the nanotech in Vilgax's bloodstream reacted violently with hers, forcibly fusing the two together into a nightmarish cybernetic beast. Now there was no Elana, nor Vilgax. There was only Cyber Vilgax now.

His body was a patchwork of flesh, dark magic and technology. His left forearm was a razor sharp gauntlet that he could fire off at will, with the Ruby Ray embedded into its back. His entire right arm was robotic, with a built in laser gun in its forearm, a powerful clawed hand with a taser in its palm. On its upper right arm was a missile launcher that can fire off homing, guided and dumb rockets. The eye that Verdona destroyed was now a glowing scanner, the flesh covering it previously now a metal face mask that covered his entire left side, as powerful hearing devices made up his new earholes. His remaining organic eye now glowed the same purple as his cyborg one, and his teeth were sharper than before. His upper chest was now almost entirely cybernetic, with a red orb near where his heart was. Now it was his new heart, as it was surrounded by a silver circle that has the Zodiac symbols engraved and painted black . On his back was a jetpack with a cable connecting it to his robotic arm by a port in his elbow. What one could mistake as a belt was now a system that allows him to disconnect his upper body from his lower one, letting him attack two places at once should the need arise. His left foot and shin was a robotic boot that has a acid sprayer in his shin. His right leg was now cybernetic up to the upper thigh, with the ability to change its foot into a sawblade. He wore a black suit that covered his lower body and lower chest, leaving his arms, head and cyborg parts exposed. Said parts are purple with some bronze, silver being used in a few places, like the circle that held his new glowing heart. It's safe to say Cyber Vilgax is far stronger than the Vilgax Max and Ben fought years ago.

Now more machine than Vilgaxian the cyborg fired off lasers from his eyes, burning everything in their path. Some tanks and weaponry were destroyed, but so far no loss of life...yet. "I would advise you surrender peacefully, or face the wrath of Diagon's heir" he droned in a robotic monolog. Of course no one wanted to give up and charged right at the monster, but he was able to kill them all with frightening ease. Soon only the general was left standing as the cyber beast came over to where he was.

He was ashamed of the fact that his legs were buckling and his uniform was soaked in fear sweat. Nevertheless he boldly ordered the monster to do one thing:

"Halt! You are attacking United States military property! If you do not surrender then we will be forced to kill you!" Cyber Vilgax laughed that off like it meant nothing, which it really did in this case.

"There will be no surrender, nor remorse for the people of this backwater planet. If you believe in a God, then make peace with it now" as his hands went over to the general's head. He paid no mind to the screams of terror as he ended his life there, with only the flies as witnesses to his deed. Not stopping to wash his hands of blood, he went on to Bellwood to end it and from there the world. 'All of Earth will die for Master Diagon' he thought as he flew towards his first target: Mr. Smoothy.

_Ben's temporary house..._

It was a somber mood over where the Kamen Rider Club was. Ben's body was being preserved in cryogenic storage and everyone was in a glum mood.

Gentaro was the first to speak: "Ben was a person that one could see as a brat, but he was always a hero to those who needed a hero. He not only retaught me about friendship he never gave up, even when his battle was within. Now he's gone and someone must take on his mantle" He took time to wipe his eyes of the tears that were forming, but they kept on going no matter what he did. As he placed his Fourze Driver down he made a bold statement that shook his friends to their cores "As I am no longer fit to be a Kamen Rider I will now take over Ben's duties as protector of this Earth" He was never as serious as he was now as he clicked the Omnitrix onto his left wrist, the device humming to life once again.

"Gentaro, this is a huge step for you, as it is for all of us. I must take the time to thank you for doing this, since I doubt Vilgax has died after Ben's last battle" Emoto comforted the now ex-Rider, placing a hand on his shoulder. " I for one wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors" as he nodded to make his point more clearly made.

JK was sitting down and tearing up like a frightened child. "We don't know how this weirdo alien watch is going to affect you, man. Plus who's going to be Fourze now that you're taking over Ben's gig?" He wished he could stop rocking back and forth as he made his point, but his fear got the best of him. Gentaro gave his friend a kind smile that put most of his fears at rest. No matter what form he took, he will always be one of the kindest people you will ever met.

"Gen-chan, I wish you the best on this new chapter of your life. I hope you will make many new friends here and the bonds you made will continue to grow strong and healthy." She was sad, but Yuki was always the one who fought the hardest to keep the cheer in the Club's heart in its darkest times, like now for instance. "Promise me you'll try your hardest to make things better for everyone and make their spirits soar again, like the rockets we love so dearly. They're like mighty gods to me and they will always-"

"Yuki, remember our talk" Erin scolded her fellow classmate, though her tone was like a mother's, gentle yet firm. Yuki apologized for falling into a bad habit of thinking rockets were deities. She was working on that, but there were times when she would relapse into that old way of thinking. Erin was sympathetic about her friend's little quirk. Yuki is a kind person and intelligent as well, but she prided herself on her vast knowledge of space and was not shy about sharing it at a moment's notice. This habit unfortunately labeled her as a otaku and left her with little friends until Gentaro reentered her life. Erin was about the same way Yuki was, sharing her lore of space trivia even when people didn't want to hear it. She was willing to admit they balanced each other out quite nicely, Yuki helping Erin curb her horrid temper and Erin calming Yuki down when she got too excited. Erin hugged Gen and wished him good luck, then sat down by Yuki as they both held each other in support.

Tojiro didn't have much to say, but he wanted to add on the points the others have made. "Kamen Rider or not, you always gotta keep rockin' on, Gen-san! Kick evil's ass for all of us!" his fist raised in pride as he shouted his encouraging words to Gentaro.

Ran was last, but that was fine with her. Standing up she placed her hands behind her and went about saying what she needed to say. "You were the one who helped me trust others again and open both my heart and Haru's as well to the larger world out there. You never give up on the people who trust you, even when they are harsh towards you for reason" as she wiped a tear from her eye, as the painful memory of trying to save Haru from being the Musca Zodiarts forever was not a very happy one. Sniffling she went on, as the others listened to what she had to say. "If you need any help, please let us know. You are such a huge help to us and we all feel that we need to help out more in your life. I'm always open to teach you some Aikido moves. You kinda need them, as I'm taking some classes from Ms. Utsugi" a bright smile forming on her face. Gen was pleased to see Ran be more cheerful, as everyone thought she has such a beautiful smile, plus although he didn't like to admit it to himself, he needed to learn how to fight better. Shotaro was not too pleased with how bad Fourze fought at times, but Eiji and Philip were more understanding of his plight.

"Thank you, everyone. I will try to live up to your expectations and fight against evil until the day I am unable to do so!" Everyone but Emoto cheered happily about what Gen said, though he did give a grin of mature understanding of Gen's new life plans.

'Ben, if you're watching, please forgive me for my foolishness' Gen prayed in his mind.

_Ben's room. Well, his temporary room at least..._

Kevin was not the kindest person Julie knew, plus he smells badly at times. Still he would never hurt her and any way, and he was nice enough to improve her computer so she can access the 'Extranet', the universe's version of Earth's internet. She wanted to know how people were dealing with Ben's death and unfortunately for her she picked the one planet that hated Ben more than anything else in this universe.

_Probity's planet..._

While other worlds were in deep sorrow over Ben's passing the people on this world were celebrating his death! Now that they no longer have to fear him coming back, they stopped making weapons to kill him. There were interviews with the people there, and how happy they were that after Ben wreaked their statue of their beloved leader (which was a accident, as Gwen and Kevin told her, though they were a tad too harsh on Ben about that. Sometimes she wondered if part of the reason Ben acted out as much as he did during the time he held the Ultimatrix was because they weren't supporting him as much as they should have) about how humorously ironic it was that the high and mighty Ben died from hemotoxicity caused by alien nano machines, how his death will make everyone's lives better. It hurt Julie so much to hear these people talk about Ben and his death like it was a simple party! But the worst part was coming up as little Probity came up to give her words about this.

It went on for hours, but it can be summed up in this sentence, said by Probity herself: "With Ben dead we can finally have a REAL hero that's not a total screw up and isn't from some backwater toilet world!" In some crowd shots one could easily see Vucanus holding up a sign that says "Be glad Ben 10 is dead!" Well, there was a dirty word that started with "F" on that sign, but Julie knew better that repeat his dirty language.

All of this, plus the horrible things Probity said were too much for the gentle girl to take. Logging out of the Extranet she screamed out of pure rage and punched a wall, making a good size dent in it. As her breathes became more hagged and since she told the KRC she needed some time to herself no one was the wiser about the odd purple light coming out of her eyes at that time.

_But soon..._

The body of Ben began to glow a calming green and then it was as it was before, but no one saw the odd sight.

_A land Ben had never seen before..._

Ben was shocked by how peaceful this place was! One moment he was with his best friends and now he was in a world of soothing white light and bubbles that held windows of sorts into other worlds. Being as curious as always Ben peeked into three of them.

One had Ben with black hair and a metal lock on the wrist that held the Omnitrix, which he recognized as the second form of the Prototype he had until he loss it during his fight with Albedo and Vilgax. His right eye was a deeper shade of green, and his left was ocean blue. Plus cute girls were by his side, one with a cross on her neck, one with bat wings, another had a witch hat on, and the last was sucking a lollipop.

The next world he glimpsed in was weirder still. He was on a spacecraft that was not of any make he knew, as a older woman with a eyepatch ordered him to battle alien fighters in a city that looked like it was in the 1930s. Ben in that world was wearing a grey uniform and had a buzzcut, with the Prototype Omnitrix on his wrist.

The last one was just him and Gwen and they were...Ben screamed in terror as they were doing things to each other that were, well, of a private matter and the sort of thing people made tapes of, but shouldn't have in the first place.

Ben kept walking in this strange land, hoping to find at least Paradox, but instead found Sir George himself.

But he was relaxing in a comfortable green button-up shirt and tan slacks, with nice shoes to go with the look. Plus he had a full head of blonde hair. He was the founder of the Forever Knights, but he was a honorable man, and one of Ben's greatest allies. He turned to Ben and addressed him like so:

"Dear Ben, you have proven yourself a hero over and over again. But it's not your time yet, lad. Although Elana died saving you from the Hivemind, the Queen took on a dark version of her personally and tricked you. Even worse she placed a nanite in you during your first battle with the clone of her father. When you rejecting her dark love she triggered a cellular breakdown with a potent hexotoxin, though your Ultimatrix was able to keep it in check, as did your superior Omnitrix. But the nanites you gained from Rex's world interfered with the healing process most part-Anadites go though" Ben went slacked jawed at this bit of news. "If you're wondering how I know all of this, death tends to open worlds of wisdom for a few" as he showed Ben a memory of the past...

_Back when Carl and Frank were about Ben's age, give or take._

Max and Verdona knew that the boys weren't able to gain the spark, though there was always the chance a child of their could gain it from them. They were feverish for about a month or so, then they were as fine as rain. Luckily Max is very understanding of different aliens and Verdona was grateful for that.

_Back to where we were before..._

"Oh, so that's what happens when a child with Anadite DNA doesn't get the spark" Ben mouthed as George nodded. "So if I'm dead, then who's going to go hero when the rest of my villains come knocking on Bellwood's door?"

"Ben, you fought so hard for this universe and beyond that thanks to Spellbinder, you were able to gain a second chance at life. But you must deal with your issues before it can be given to you, young master Tennyson" Having told Ben all he could, George faded away, with Ben having no idea what to do now.

"Well, it was nice of Spellbinder to give me another chance at life. But how am I gonna get that chance?" No sooner than he asked himself that soft footsteps started as a figure came into his line of sight. It was someone he thought he's never see again: a small boy with green cargo pants, black sneakers and a white shirt with black striping. With the Prototype Omnitrix on his arm, it could be no other than Ben Tennyson himself, age 10.

And he was not happy to see the older version of himself. "WOW. I knew you were a total loser, but even after EVERYONE busted your chops about your ego problems you still wouldn't improve. Now it's my turn to go hero, and you can just sit here in the dark forever!" with a rude tone of voice as he rolled his eyes at older Ben. 17 year old Ben wasn't going to let a younger Ben take his place. He fought too damn hard against the Dark versions of Taurus, Leo,Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius, as well as both versions of Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces! No way was he just going to lose this battle! Both Ben activated their Omntrixes and went into battle against each other, 17-year Ben with Shocksquash and 10-year Ben with Magnostein, their first blows causing a flash of light to burst out from the impact.

_Back in Ben's universe..._

After smashing Mr. Smoothy, AGAIN, Cyber Vilgax was finally in the neighborhood that Ben was staying at. It didn't take long for everyone there to realize that a cyber monster was attacking, well, everything that went into his line of sight! After the first screams Gentaro was right there, face to face with the beast himself! Well, technically he was face to belly button, but you get the idea.

As he tried to get a alien that could stand to Cyber Vilgax Gen proudly declared to C. Vilgax this:

"You harmed both my friends and the girl of my dreams! You killed so many people and yet no one was able to stop you from doing as you wished!" As he selected a alien and pressed down on the dial he shouted his classic line: "Uchuu Kita!" as he changed to Goop. But his version was a brownish green, with brown eyes and a brighter silver UFO hovering over his head. But being a cute alien wasn't going to dampen his fighting spirit as he proudly pointed at C. Vilgax and boomed out "Let's settle this once and for all!"

" Gladly" Cyber Vilgax monologued as he unleashed a burst of acid, but it did not hurt Goop at all. It fact it caused him to giggle a little bit, although that was embarrassing to Gentaro. He didn't mind doing that doing his off hours, but not during a fight!

After regaining his composure Goop squirted C. Vilgax with two strong gushes of acid at his chest, burning him slightly, but not enough to really matter. While he doing this Cyber Vilgax ran to his spot and tried to crush his UFO, but Goop was able to liquify his body and rush out of the way. C. Vilgax tried again and again to crush him but Goop kept getting away with his oozing powers as he taunted "Nah, Nah, Na nah naaaaa!" Cyber Vilgax got tired of chasing him and fired a Ruby Ray blast at Goop, knocking him down and before he could get up Cyber Vilgax ripped a piece of street up and smashed him with it.

Turning around he failed to see Gentaro switching to a new form: That of Fourarms, an old favorite of Ben's. Chucking the piece of concrete at Cyber Vilgax he jumped up into the air and went down on his head, his face falling into a car's sunroof. Fourarms now wore a button up vest that was black with pink button, black pants and a green belt with the Omnitrix on it. "Ready to give up yet, rapeface?" both mocking him and making light of tentacle porn, the Tetramand DNA making Gentaro more bold than he normally was.

Cyber Vilgax got back on his feet and thundered, "NEVER!", as he fired off both his laser gun and laser vision at Fourarms, forcing him onto his back in pain. "Perhaps I came at a bad time for you, but this world needs to die" as he attempted to punch Fourarms in the face, though he was able to catch it with all four arms.

It was taking all of his great strength to keep his fist away and the strain was starting to show on Fourarms' face. With his veins bulging and sweat pouring down from his brow he forced Cyber Vilgax away and went with the form of Rath, who now wore a black karate outfit with a belt made of the Omnitrix, with pink highlights on the uniform itself.

"LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN', VILGAX! YOU SUCK!" Rath roared as he smashed the ground out from under them both, sending them down into the sewers below. Though that didin't faze Rath at all. "When I get my mitts on ya I'm gonna kick your butt so hard your life's gonna be a intellectual challenge, cause it's gonna come out your mouth!" That made no sense whatsoever but Rath is too dumb to ever care about that.

_Soon after..._

Manny was having way too much fun parading Cash and JT in their diapers when he felt the earth shake from Gan and Cyber Vilgax's battle. Telling the both of them to stay there he jumped into the hole to help out the tigerman. Landing with a loud thud he shoved Cyber Vilgax away so he could talk to Gen.

"I got the E-mail about what happened to Ben.I can't believe he's gone. I hope you're up to the challenge, dude. Ben's guys don't screw around!" Manny admitted to Gen/Rath.

"Rath's gonna try his best to live up to Ben's standards. Thought it's gonna be hard" as he frowned, the fact that Ben was still dead hitting him hard. Cyber Vilgax took the time they were talking to recover and chokehold the both of them into the sewer walls, trying to crush the life from them. But a storm of crystals stuck C. Vilgax in his organic eye, tearing it out as he was forced to let go of Manny and Rath to seal the hole. Looking up they saw the KRC with some of Ben's friends: Tetrax, Allen Albright, Sugilite and Reiny.

"You don't know where to quit, do you?!" Tertax bellowed as Yuki stood by his side. "I think you owe these people a apology note, for starters!" he thundered as Yuki glared at Cyber Vilgax.

"Not to mention the pain you caused the peoples of the universe. You have much to answer for, in this life and the realms beyond" Sugilite stated as Erin did the Akanbe pose at C. Vilgax.

"Ben was my friend! You're going to pay for what you did to him!" Allen flared in his Pryonite form, with JK clenched his fists by his sides, hoping that Manny and Gen can win their fight with the dark ruler.

"The Highbreed will have your head for your crimes against BenBen Tennyson, if others don't get to you first!" Reiny snarled, Tojiro by his side, ready to help out in any way he could.

Emoto was with Ran as he said this to Cyber Vilgax: "We all must face what we did in our lives at the time of our deaths. I doubt your passing will be kind to you, nor your legacy" Ran just flumed at the cyber monster.

Gentaro returned to human form and was quite touched by how much Ben meant to everyone here, on Earth and beyond! "I have much to learn about friendship" he sighed sadly, hanging his head in shame.

To his surprise Yuki vouched for him. "Gen-chan, you have many strengths to your credit. But you're always so hard on yourself. You're not perfect, but then again no one is. But you're always willing to improve and see the good in everything. The time I spent apart from you only made the love in my heart grow stronger. I wish to spend more time with you, as more than a friend!" she declared, the love in her voice ringing true and proud.

"I love you too, Yuki-chan" Gen told her as both the KRC and Ben's friends were pleased to hear. Cyber Vilgax however couldn't care less as a new eye formed from the old, as mechanical as the one in the socket flanked by metal.

"Idiots. Vilgax is dead. Now there is only Elana in this body. But she is no longer herself. Now there is only Cyber Vilgax. Diagon hated how much Vilgax lusted over his power, so he contacted the Hivemind and gave it part of his power. But we needed more that that to take revenge. So we showed Vilgax the world of heroes and fooled him into making the last of the Horoscopes Switches. Then he was tricked into placing his share of the power into them, empowering them with the power of the Black Zodiac. We knew that they would lose, but when they did the Switches would go to Vilgax, giving him that power. Then when he lost against Ben he casted his soul into the Dark Nebula and took over his body and remade it in OUR image. You were all pawns of the great Diagon, helping us reach levels of power we never thought possible before. We also played a part in killing Ben, as he was nothing more than a thorn in our side. Dooming Rex's world to death was a added bonus" as a cruel smile twisted his face into something even more hideous. His words were disgusting to everyone there, but since Gentaro knew not on how to fully use the Omnitrix, things were looking quite bad for our heroes.

_Around the same time as what going on right now in Ben's universe..._

Both Bens would give no quarter and ask for none, both wanting to live life again. Older Ben had much riding on this fight and if he failed then all is doomed. Plus Rex was going to be PISSED about having to deal with his grandma. But right now he had to defeat HIMSELF, as a 10 year old.

"Aw man! Look, I'll admit I was a terrible friend. I hurt everyone close to me and broke Julie's heart. I let fame go to my head and ruin my reputation. What more do you want to know?" 17 yr old Ben demanded, as he did a fire stream attack as Swampfire.

"All I want to for you to admit I am the batter Ben. People want a hero that honest, kind and not going to attack people with his powers just because they're hogging his space! Plus saying that magic and cryptids are really alien things is just going to tick people off!" 10 yr old Ben snapped back as Heatblast absorbed the fire blast and countered with a powerful fireball, which Swampfire barely had time to dodge.

Still, younger Ben had valid points. Saying that a lot of things were really alien of origin is really annoying admittedly, plus he had abused his powers to get people off his back, to torment his friends, Hell, he was willing to become a universal overlord due to Vilgax's goading! He had failed BIG TIME and he knew it. But he had to save his friends and his girlfriend. No, he thought. He had to save everything and that meant maturing a lot. Gwen and Kevin were not the nicest people he knew, but they kept his head straight and his mind focused on the matters at hand. Still they could have been a little more tactful of his feelings. Then like lightning the realization stuck him.

_Months ago..._

Gwen and Kevin had to help Ben out of a tree he had somehow managed to get struck in. Granted it wasn't his fault, as Dr Animo's stupid frog threw him there while he was saving lives. Still they weren't too pleased after Animo was dragged off back to prison.

"Ben, I think sometimes you like screwing around because you don't to do any work!" Gwen grumbled darkly as she used her mana powers to free Ben from said tree. "You're always going to be a brat, are you?! " as Ben recoiled from her harsh tone.

"She kinda has a point there, Benny. You had a good run during the Highbreed invasion, but maybe you just suck at being a hero" Kevin bluntly stated to Ben. Their opinions of him were rather hurtful and this had been going on for some time now. Ben wanted to cry, to say that he was trying as hard as he can, but both the stress of dealing with his unwanted fame, his damaged love life and these Flame Keepers, was getting to be too much for the boy to handle. So instead to trying to fight he ran off to his room, locked the door and sobbed. He had NEVER had any friends that wanted to help him, both with things around Bellwood and beyond and well BEYOND Earth, and with making Ben become a more rounded person. But so far he had only Gwen and Kevin's input on his faults and that was more blunt than he'd like. He wanted both a honest opinion about himself and the support he needed to become a more loving and understanding person. That was part of why he kept acting out like this, because they weren't giving him the love and support he so desperately craved.

_Back to Ben and Ben..._

But he had friends now that were both helpful and understanding of his problem areas. The KRC was not as helpful in a fight, but they always kept cheering both Gen and Ben, as well as Manny when he joined the team, on during even the toughest fights and they took the time to get people to safety. Plus, they helped Ben smooth out his rough personality not by being harsh, but by giving him supporting words and helpful advice. He now knew what it meant to truly have friends!

"You're right. I didn't know about having friends, so I acted like a tool. But I can't give up on the ones I have now, not yet and not ever AGAIN!" as he switched to Big Chill, unfurling his wings. Heatblast tried to tackle the moth, but he jumped up and on the peak of his jump shot icicles downward at Heatblast, cooling him down and returning him to being 10 yr old Ben. To Big Chill' shock he smiled back and faded away, the lesson Ben needed to learn he now already knew. That Friendship is a two way street and he had helped the Kamen Rider Club get used to his oddball world, plus he cover their living expenses and helped them make new friends as well. He was finally able to understand friendship and all its glory!

_"The lesson has been taught"_ Spellbinder's voice echoed from the sky as a portal opened by Ben's feet. Thanking Hope's father for all his help he jumped in...

_Ben's corpse... _

A bright life poured from out of Ben's body as life returned to it once again. Soon he kicked the door open and stepped out, stronger than he was in a long time. He now wore a black shirt with green striping in the sleeve ends, collar and a green stripe down the middle with a black and white 10 in the middle of that. His jeans were replaced with brown cargo pants and his sneakers were now green. His body had changed as well, with brighter green eyes and bushier hair. Grabbing the Fourze Driver he ran off to where the action was.

_Back to where we left our heroes last time..._

Cyber Vilgax had just finished his taunting when Ben himself ran towards Gentaro. He was too dumbstruck to even say a single word about this. Humans don't come back from the dead! Do they?

"You're more like me that I thought before" Gentaro laughed as he gave Ben back his Omnitrix and clicked his Driver onto his waist. Placing Cosmic, Freeze, Drill and Shield into their slots he flicked the Transwtiches down and pressed the lever to start his transformation to Fourze.

**"3"**

**"2"**

**"1"**

"Henshin!" he called out as the Cosmic States armor formed around him. When it finished forming the KRC did their "Uchuu Kita" pose and cheer as Fourze did his important catchphrase.

"Kamen Rider Fourze! Let's settle this once and for all!" The other members joined him on his cheer. Seeing how much they supported each other made Ben a little jealous that he didn't share that kind of friendship with Gwen and Kevin. If there was time for that he would work on improving the teamwork between them.

Taking the time to look at the Fourze Driver Ben was thankfully he didn't even try to fiddle with the Driver. His Omnitrix was hard enough to use! Selecting Fourarms they both tackled Cyber Vilgax into a portal opened by the Barizen Sword to a world that was full of horror.

_Diagon's home..._

Ancient buildings were destroyed from the last time Ben was here, as the sky above was a odd minty green. Rolling to soften the impact the two boys were ready to stop Cyber Vilgax once and for all! Soon they were charging straight at the cyber monster as he did the same, all wanting to finish this battle and get back to their lives. "Your effects are futile. Give up and I may spare your worthless world" Of course Ben and Gen would not give up, not to Cyber Vilgax! Soon the final fight will start and only one side will live though this.

_Meanwhile..._

Cash was ticked off as both he and JT were forced to wear diapers and bib and nothing else in PUBLIC! They were thinking maybe if they broke into Ben's house and scared him to make up for this they would be even. While the other 40 Astro Switches were with Fourze, as were both Rocket Super-1 and Fusion, the Shin-Chan Switch was there for the taking.

"Let's see them use their toys now" he grimaced as he tried to pocked the Switch, thought diapers don't have pockets, as they would soon be reminded of.

The Shin-Chan Switch fell onto a Plumber teleported that was set to transport things into the Sun of Pyros, where it disintegrated from both the impact and the intense heat and flames of Heatblast's homeworld!

"AW CRAP!" the diapered boys cried out! The KRC was going to be so ticked at them as was Ben! But their anger was nothing compared to Julie's when she found them and found out just what they did to the Shin-Chin Switch.

As they both whimpered in fear as she closed in she angrily shot out:

"What have you done?! The Kamen Rider Club needed that to get home and you broke it with both Pryos and a Plumber teleporter? You both as in so much trouble!" as Emily got behind them both angry as well. As the two girls walked towards them JT whined "Why is it we never can catch a break?"

Still a darkness was growing from within Julie and yet no one knew about that. Soon the part of Diagon in her would awaken and bring the apocalypse to Bellwood.

**Next time: The final battle and the fallout of Cash and JT's actions! Let me know what you thought of the story so far in the reviews section and I'll see ya next time!**


	22. Cyber Vilgax Rising!

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners.**

Chapter 22: Cyber Vilgax Rising

_Diagon's world..._

Cyber Vilgax wasted no time in getting the first strike against our heroes, as his body split apart to attack the two boy, his upper half firing off a rocket punch at Fourarms and the lower half kicking Fourze in the chest, knocking the two down. "Why do you persist on this meaningless battle? You know that I shall be victorious and you will be nothing but dust, your ideals ultimately having no effect on the stage of history" His words were insulting, his tone even more , Fourarms and Fourze were not people to give up that easily.

"Go jump in a lake, Vilgy! I wasn't scared of you when I was 10 and I'm still not afraid of you now! Because I have a Hell of a lot more to fight for than you'll ever know!" Fourarms remarked, his voice bold and proud, like the heroes of the comics he used to love. Jumping up, he then punched C. Vilgax in the face then when he landed grabbed him by the waist and threw him up into the air, leaping up to follow him there. When they met in midair Fourarms grabbed Cyber Vilgax, but he was blasted away by a shot from CV's Ruby Ray, sending him crashing into a building (It was the Hall of Justice to the Flame Keepers, but it's doubtful Diagon even cared about justice, let alone fair trail)

Fourze stepped up to give Ben time to recover, blasting Cyber Vilgax with missies from the Launcher Module, enhanced with the powers of the Freeze Switch, deep freezing the cyborg. "Friendship is the most important thing in the universe to me. I hope to better the lives of everyone I meet to make them smile and bring joy to the lives of others. But how can ensure that my friends will be safe when there's people like you, who enjoy harming the innocent as if it's a game?" His temper got the better of him as he crouched down and with his voice at full volume he yelled out "I'm really mad this time!" and sprinted over to Cyber Vilgax, striking him with the Hammer Module three times in the face before his buzzsaw leg clipped his thigh, making him recoil in pain.

Placing his hand over Fourze's head Cyber Vilgax lifted him up and punched him in the stomach for a good minute before Ben entered the scene as UpChuck, barfing up a few pieces of the building he crashed into earlier as explosive slime balls at the cyborg, startling him enough to drop Fourze down as he used his tongues to get him away from the dark ruler before he could kill him.

"Man, it's like even when he's dead Vilgax is a royal pain. He was being a buzz kill no matter where he was, and that was when he didn't know better to parade himself around in a woman's leotard" UpChuck joked, trying to lighten the mood, but Fourze wasn't getting the joke. Shrugging he suggested that they go back to fighting C. Vilgax, but getting closer to him was harder than they first thought, as Cyber Vilgax summoned a legion of Flamer Keepers to his side, stunning them both.

Fourze was furious! "You're willing to let these people die for you? What kind of a monster are you?!" as he swung his arm back to show he was not pleased with this at all.

"A evil monster, DUH!" UpChuck snarked, although he was wondering why these Flame Keepers still had their powers and awful costumes. Flame printed masks and half skirts were NOT a good look on anyone and as fashion challenged as Ben was at times, he knew that the FKC looked stupid and acted stupider that the Veedle Bros at times.

"Though you cured those that Diagon claimed by force, they are those that willingly joined his side and kept their powers, despite your best efforts, Ben Tennyson. But there's something more to my body that you realize, boy. Witness the birth of the NEW Dark Horoscopes!" With his venomous speech out in the air the fully repaired Dark Horoscope Switched bled from his body and forced their way into a Flame Keeper's body, mutating them into new versions of Dark Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. UpChuck gulped loudly in fear, as having to deal with Cyber Vilgax, the 12 Dark Horoscope Zodiarts and a thousand Flame Keepers was a tad too much for him!

"Awwww! C'mon, Vilgax! Play fair or I'm telling you mother on you!" the froglike alien scolded the cyborg, but Cyber Vilgax just snorted at his half hearted threat. "Ok then, if you won't listen to reason then have a earful of the sounds of Echo Echo" twisting the dial as he tried to find the alien that single handily damaged his relationship with Julie, but he overturned it and got something else instead. Ben tried to protest but Wildmutt could not speak English or any other human language, leaving Fourze in the dark about what he wanted.

Frustrated, but not out Wildmutt grunted as he pointed at the Flame Keepers, and Fourze knew that he wanted them out of the way so the others will be easier to deal with in the long run. It wasn't going to be easy, but Gentaro always loved a challenge. After all, no one that gave up that easily wouldn't have been friends with Kengo and Miu, two people that worked hard at what they do and expected others to do their best as well, though sometimes they could be a tad forceful with wanting their way.

Howling, Wildmutt attacked the Flame Keepers head on, biting and punching them with all his might, but since this form is without eyes, he had to use his radar sense, though it lacked the use of eyes at times, as he found out the hard way during his first battle with Vilgax's drones. Without visual aid he could not tell when they would teleport in and out of the arena, as they dogpiled onto the orange dog alien, beating him to within a inch of his life. Ben tried to get them off, but they were persistent buggers, a few taking the time to blast him with energy balls. It soon got to be too much for Wildmutt to handle, Ben attempted to switch to Heatblast, but a Flamer Keeper's hand brushed against the Omnitrix dial, as he turned it without knowing what happened. When he clicked it he was something new: a giant of a alien, made of stone and metal, with black and green shorts and the Omnitrix in his head.

"WHOA! Didn't know about this one! Let's see what this baby can do" as Ben span around, spending the Flame Keepers away as they regrouped and fired off energy attacks at him, though they did little harm to this new form. Seeing some debris the idea stuck him as he activated his gravity powers, a glow appearing on his hand as he lifted the arm that had said glow, making some stones float in midair. Before the FKC could figure out what it was Ben is doing he brought his arm down, sending the stones down on their fool heads, burying them deep. Smirking at a job well done he dubbed this form Gravattack, and he knew he wanted to learn more about what he could do. But Fourze was having problems of his own.

The Flame Keepers' teleporting power was getting to be too much for Gentaro to handle. The Fourze system was never meant for heavy combat and there were times Gen wished for more powerful Switches he could use. Water was one that annoyed even him, and he was a pretty lenient guy. Why Kengo made the faucet point downwards he may never know. Perhaps it was payback for making the Rabbit Hatch his homebase back home, but still, there was a limit as to how odd a Switch could be! Plus add in the fact that they were firing energy balls at him and fighting with the intent to kill him was making him homesick. The Shield Module was doing the best job it can do, given its small size, but with the new Dark Horoscopes closing in he NEEDED a edge against them or he was going home dead...again.

Ben changed from Gravattack to Brainstorm and shocked as many Flame Keepers as he was able to, but they were overwhelming in their number and ruthlessness. "Uncurtious brutes, please reframe from your mindless roughhousing and reiterate what you wish to say in a more courteous manner. It would be splendid if you took the time to think about how your actions are defiling the experience our kind guest has of our home" Brainstorm's wishes were met with dumbfounded stares from all present, including Fourze himself. Giving it sometime to think over the Flame Keeper decided to attack Brainstrom with newfound fury, whacking at his shell as he attempted to calm them down. Key word being "attempted"

Rushing to Brainstrom's defense with the Wheel Module Fourze fought back with both Pen and Chain array, smacking them away from the crab alien and giving him some breathing room. "Good show, Gentaro, my kind sir. However, if we do not have a better plan to deal with the Flame Keepers, then I fear we shall be overcome with their sheer brute force before we could deal with Cyber Vilgax's brutish tidings for our universes. I may have a idea, but if this is to work I must ask of you this question. Can you use your Magnet Modules in this form? he enquired. What he said largely went well over what Gentaro could understand, but he nodded to let Brainstorm know he was able to do what he asked of him.

Using NRG Ben began to heat his armor up as Fourze selected the N Magnet and S Magnet Modules with the Switching Lung, attracting the oven like alien towards him. When NRG was close to touching Fourze pressed the buttons for Fire and Gryo then propelled NRG forward in a fiery tornado, incinerating all the Flame Keepers to their deaths. Ben and Gen wished there was another way than this, but Cyber Vilgax is too powerful to deal with any other way. Crashing down with a metallic thud, NRG rolled to show Gen his faceplate as he shouted "Nice job! You really have a knack with your system there, Gentaro! But I doubt we have the power to stop Cyber Vilgax", breathing in a sad breath as he was worried that he would have to die to keep this cyber beast from killing everyone near and dear to them both.

"I think I know what you're thinking and I don't like the idea any more than you do, Ben-san. But before we die I want to say it's been a honor to fight and live along side you" the Kamen Rider complemented Ben on his hard work over the last month or so. If this be their curtain call, then the two will give it their all for both Earths and beyond! But Gentaro was wondering something important regarding the Dark Horoscopes. "If these Dark Horoscopes are the embodiment of darkness, shouldn't a light based counter work on destroying the Switches for good?" he wondered outloud.

Ben wasn't totally sure that Gen's theory will work, but he needed to keep his spirits up, as his friends the Kamen Rider Club weren't here to help out. "Newton has a law of motion that states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you were able to use Switches that can embody the opposite tracts of the Black Zodiac then we could destroy them for good!" NRG informed Gen of his idea. Now that they had a plan of attack all they needed were Switches to use. Diagon was not going to have anything that the two can use, so they were out of luck on that idea.

"If you are done with your childish wishing then lay down and die" Cyber Vilgax ordered, ready to burn the flesh out their bones with the Ruby Ray, the 12 Dark Zodiarts flanking his sides at every angle. As the Omnitrix timed out Ben wished for something to help them out of this jam.

As if by some magical force 12 new Astro Switches fell from a portal that opened over Ben's head, all of them crashing down on his noggin. As he rubbed his sore temples he found out something ODD about these Switches: All of them had a face on them. Each had the eyes of the Kamen Riders and Ben knew that Gentaro could use these to turn the tide of battle, but he had something to ask Gen.

"First off, who are these guys? Second, and this is a valid point, who sent these to us and why?" Gentaro was all to happy to fill Ben on what these represent to him.

"These Switches are proof of the legacy of the Kamen Riders. All 12 have come before me and I had made the Kamen Rider Club to honor those before me and protect my school." Furrowing his brow under the Cosmic States helmet he had to wonder "When did these come from, anyway?"

_Gen's universe..._

A girl adored with Goth makeup and a black to go with her school uniform was standing outside with a young man wearing the male version of the uniform. Ever since their friends disappeared Tomoko was worried sick about them. It didn't take her long to figure out that since the Horoscopes active and defeated had vanished those captured were forced to fill in the blanks in their membership. It horrified her club members as much as it did her, but they quickly realized that they were still good people despite becoming Switchers, a slang term for those who can use Zodiart Switches to mutate to Zodiarts, creatures that draw their power from constellations, the most powerful being the Horoscopes who draw their abilities from the Zodiac constellations.

Still the news was painful for Tomoko, almost to her breaking point. Yuki, who she correctly guessed had been forced to become Gemini, was like a older sister to her, as both are intelligent, creative and fun loving, though their passions made them outcasts before Gentaro transferred to their school. The fact that somewhere Yuki was doing things she would never wish to do was heartbreaking, and she wished that everyone could go home and be safe again.

Granted, as thanks to Vilgax and his endless lust for power, only Yuki, Tojiro, Erin, Ran and Emoto were the only survivors of the Horoscopes, but the Kamen Rider Club would not find that out until later today.

Tomoko has a power that lets her guess what the future may hold and although the Fourze Driver and Astro Switches were in another dimension she could still feel that they were being used to combat the Black Zodiac. When she found that out she begged Kengo, who was with her now, to make new Switches that used copies of previous Riders's powers. There was only time to make 12 when she felt the birth of Cyber Vilgax from a dream she had. Luckily there was enough energy of the Shin-Chin Switch to send them to Fourze, no matter where he was now.

Kengo was never too thrilled about trusting her powers, but since she right most of the time he learned to place his faith in her, as the others did. He would have words with Gentaro when he got back, but now was not the time to do so.

As the gifts were sent on their way, Tomoko has something she wanted to say. So she threw a note in with the Rider Switches in paper airplane form as the portal closed. It was all up to Fourze now...

_Diagon's home..._

Seeing the note on the ground Ben picked it and read it aloud to Gen. This is what was written:

_Gentaro-san,_

_We were able to find out about what fate befell the others. Though their bodies had changed, we know that they are still the same good friends we know and care about. Please, if you find this letter, tell them that we miss them and will always care about their well being, no matter what the Horoscopes do to their bodies. Tell Yuki-chan that I miss her dearly and that her position as chairwoman is still hers._

_Ryusei was able to stop any Zodiart attacks while you were gone, but he admits that without the Horoscopes there was little action to have. (He should be thankful that we only had three attacks overall, but I worry about his bloodlust at times. I love him with all my heart, but he needs to be reminded on what truly matters in this life.) We all want to thank you for making everyone's lives better and that you will all come back to us in due time._

_Your friend, Nozoma Tomoko._

Gen was moved to tears by the letter. Now he had proof that their friends still thought kindly of them, which they desperately needed. He was quite pleased that their friendship had survived both this tragedy and his absence. He would thank them all with a BIG party when they got home.

But now wasn't the time to plan out party activities. Powering down he handed all 40 default Switches to Ben. Ben had his mouth open in shock, but Gen was ready for that reaction. "My friends believe in both me and our bonds of friendship. I must honor their wishes and use the powers they gave me to combat this evil and end it once and for all!"

Placing the Stronger, Kuuga, Kiva and OOO Switches, and setting the Amazon, Den-O,#2, Kabuto,#1, Double, Riderman and Agito Switches with Ben, (who wasn't too pleased to be holding onto so many Switches, but understood his wishes) Gen transformed back to Fourze and charged to battle against the Dark Horoscopes for the last time.

Thankfully Cyber Vilgax made a fatal error and only allowed one Dark Horoscope to attack at a time, which was good for Gentaro. Dark Aries was up first as he powered on his new OOO Switch.

"OOO ON!"

On his left arm was now the OOO Module, a giant robotic glove with the Taka Head on it. Dark Aries tried to stab Fourze with his **Jason** Sword, but Fourze was able to catch it in his OOO Module, breaking it with no problem at all. D. Aries wanted to heatbutt the Rider, but he slapped him silly with the red glove on his person, embarrassing the ram Zodiart to no end. Running out of patience with this he punched Fourze in the gut, then went for his Supernova ability, as his horns grew to fire off multiple energy blasts at the hero. To his shock the OOO Module changed the balls of light to Cell Medals and sucked them up into itself, then they were fired back at their original sender, damaging him quite badly. While he was on unsteady footing he set up a new Limit Break, just for the Selfish King.

"OOO ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Giga Spinner!"

With that cry Cell Medals pooled into the Taka Head on the OOO Module and soon it was ablaze with fire, as a large fireball came out and utterly destroyed the Zodiart and his Dark Aries Switch.

Taking out the OOO Switch he plugged in the Amazon Switch as Dark Taurus came up to bat. Summoning a few dead Flame Keepers with his Supernova he was sure that Fourze was going to die. But Fourze was quite ready for this as he brought the Amazon Switch to life.

"Amazon ON!"

A FK zombie tried to jump onto Fourze, but he was caught in the maw of the Amazon Module, as he was then crushed and throw at the rest of the zombies, crumbling them all to dust. Dark Taurus ran into Fourze, knocking the wind out of his lungs, as D. Taurus went for a chokehold. Fourze, in a panic, used the Amazon Modula to blind the Zodiart, sending him into a fit of pain and rage as he recovered enough to start a Limit Break.

"Amazon ON!

_"Limit_ _Break_!"

"Rider Jaw Crush!"

With the maw of the Amazon Module glowing he picked up Dark Taurus and with a thought two LARGE jaws came out of the device and crushed both Zodiart and Switch into nothing but dust.

Dark Gemini was the thrid to try as Fourze turned off the Amazon Switch and set up Kuuga's for battle.

"Kuuga ON!"

On his right leg was now the Kuuga Module, a black boot with Kuuga's face on the shin. With a sharp movement Fourze used it to kick the Zodiart in the face, the pinchers on his foot causing much damage to the monster. With his leg still up he did a spinkick that would make Meteor proud onto Dark Gemini's chest, knocking him down. He wanted the Dark Gemini Switch gone as soon as possible, as he wanted Yuki to be happy as she was before all of this happened, as he started his Limit Break with the Kuuga Module.

"Kuuga ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Mighty Kick!"

With a flipping jump Fourze forced energy into the Kuuga Module and stuck Dark Gemini with its full power, sending him far, far away as he blew up with much force, ending the terror of the Dark Gemini Switch and its new Switcher once and for all.

Turning off the Kuuga Switch as Dark Cancer stomped into the fight he brought the Stronger Switch to life.

"Stronger ON!"

Now with the Stronger Module, Fourze punched Dark Cancer down hard, as its body was shocked by its power. Turning to Supernova mode to try and escape, it slithered all over the place, then when Fourze wasn't looking he lunged at him. Fourze wasn't sure this would work, but he powered the Stronger Switch for its Limit Break.

"Stronger ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Lightning Punch!" With one thunderous blow both Dark Cancer and its Switch were reduced to dust.

Ben was amazed by how rich the history of the Kamen Riders was! "Dude, these guys rock! However, I'm kinda wondering why you don't make jokes during your battles" the Omnitrix wielder inquired.

"Kamen Riders don't joke around when there's battles to be won. When my friends are safe, that's when I joke around" Fourze declared as he switched Stronger with Den-O, as Dark Leo was next.

"Den-O ON!"

Armed with the Den-O Module, which was equipped with the face of Den-O's Sword Form, Fourze stuck Dark Leo with two punches, not letting him even get the chance to even think about using Supernova. Dark Leo got a hit in, but Fourze took the opportunity to strike him in his head with the Module, then while he was reeling set up a Limit Break.

"Den-O ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Denlinner Puch!"

Summoning the power of the Denlinner, Fourze punched Dark Leo with all his might, reducing both him and his Switch to dust.

Unplugging Amazon he then replaced it with #2, since Dark Virgo wanted to fight him now.

"#2 ON!"

Now with the red glove and #2 helmeted #2 Module Fourze charged right into the thick of it, its power cutting through D. Virgo's Supernova winds and drawing even more power from them, to its shock. Taking a small leap Fourze prepped a Limit Break to use its full power.

"#2 ON!"

_"LIMIT BREAK!"_

"Rider Punch V2!"

With a punch enhanced by the power of #2, Dark Virgo was brought down once again, this time the Switch that gave it form falling apart into dust.

Dark Libra was the seventh to take on the Rider. Clicking the Kiva Switch to life Fourze was ready to take on the mad dog of this team.

"Kiva ON!"

On his left leg was the Kiva Module, a boot with red bat wings and the face of Kiva's default form on its shin. Lifting his leg up he kicked Dark Libra in his face, the power stunning him as Fourze followed up with a step up using his chest and starting the Limit Break with Kiva's power.

"Kiva ON!"

_"Limit break!"_

"Rider Wake Up Fever!"

Divekicking D. Libra in his face, he was rendered nothing but dust with his Switch, a crater shaped like bat wings all that was left of his existence.

Dark Scorpio ran up to Fourze, as the Rider placed the Kabuto Switch into the Triangle slot, setting the Kiva Switch with Ben (why does he need all these, the green shirted boy wondered) and turned it on.

"Kabuto ON!"

On his left leg was the Kabuto Module, a boot with Kabuto's face on the shin. Doing a spinning roundhouse he caught Dark Scorpio's jaw with it, and then started a Limit Break.

"Kabuto ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Clock Up Kick!"

At first Dark Scorpio was stunned by the fact that it was moving slower than it was before, but just as it realized that Fourze dive kicked it and the Dark Scorpio Switch to dust with Kabuto's power.

Dodging Dark Sagittarius and its arrow attacks Fourze took out Kuuga and replaced it with the #1 Switch, fliping it down to bring it to life.

"#1 ON!"

The #1 Module was powerful indeed, as it had both designs that looked like the face and belt of the first Rider to stand up to evil in the Showa era, as Fourze leapt high into the skies as he set up a Limit Break

"#1 ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider KICK!"

Screaming downwards at D. Sagittarius at high speeds Fourze brought both it and the switch that made it up to a end, as the power of #1 made them both dust.

Dark Capricorn stepped up, as Fourze removed the #2 Switch and put in the Double Switch, clicking it on.

"Double ON!"

On his arm was a glove with the face of CycloneJoker, Double's default form. With one simple move the Rider blasted D. Capricorn down with a gust of wind from it, then as it tried to get up Fourze had already finished setting up its Limit Break.

"Double ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Maximum Drive!"

A solid hologram of Double's Joker Extreme fired out of the Double Module and stuck the goatman down and out, as both its Switch and itself were rendered nothing but dust.

Dark Aquarius was next to last, as Fourze placed the Den-O Switch to the side and put in the Riderman Switch. Soon it was brought to life as well.

"Riderman ON!"

Its Module was blue with a cable and the face of Riderman himself on it, as the cable coiled around the Zodiart's leg and slammed it down with a good amount of force to it. Since it was tied up at the moment Fourze set up its Limit Break as well.

"Riderman ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Swing!"

Spinning the monster at break neck speeds he then threw it at a wall, the impact destroying both it and the Dark Aquarius Switch.

Finally was the Dark Pisces Zodiarts, as Fourze removed the Kabuto Switch and placed in the Agito Switch, and brought it to life as well.

"Agito On!"

The Agito Module was a boot with Agito's face on it as Fourze jump kicked Dark Pisces in its face. Then wanting to finish this battle set up its Limit Break.

"Agito On!"

_"Limit Break!"_

"Rider Shining Kick!"

With the Module glowing with Shining Form's power Fourze did a Rider Kick at Dark Pisces' chest, crumbing it and the last Switch of the Dark Horoscopes to dust. But that power he had to call up was taking its toll on Fourze, as he was forced to power down, leaving him at Cyber Vilgax's mercy.

Of which he had none.

"Such a waste that all that power goes to you, boy" C. Vilgax rumbled, each syllable dripping with venom. "You truly do not care for your friends, as you destroyed aspects of themselves along with Tennyson. To think that you force others to become what YOU wish of them to be. You even destroyed a part of your dear girlfriend without so much as a doubt. You are the greater monster, not me"

Fourze was profoundly stunned by Cyber Vilgax's words! He did destroy one part of Yuki without even stopping to think about that, as well as the fact he was hurting the others as well during their stay as Zodiarts. Falling to his knees, he was too ashamed to even fight back, as Cyber Vilgax shot his Ruby Ray at the fallen Rider, a cruel smirk forming on his lips.

Ben got in the laser's way and something happened that was unexpected to say the least. His Omnitrix glowed with power, as the omnidirectinal forcefield fired up and reflected his attack back at him, vaporizing most of his left arm, but Cyber Vilgax felt no pain from that. The nerve endings that read pain were removed as unnecessary a long time ago.

Ben was badly hurt but he will recover with time, though he paid a price for his heroic deed. The Omnitrix read out a grim prognostic and it was quite bad indeed.

_Conductoid DNA locked_

_Citrakayah DNA locked_

_Aerophibian DNA locked._

Ben moaned in frustration, as his stunt cost him Fasttrack, Jetray and Feedback. Those were three of his best guys! Still, other than the energy locking away those three, it was undamaged. "Azmuth really outdid himself! I'm never going back to the Ultimatrix!" He was happy about his Omnitrix being made of sterner stuff, but he had to get Gen's will to fight back, before they both died. "Hey, doofus! Get moving here! This is Vilgax we're fighting here, not a fluffy bunny!" He kept shouting at Fourze, but he was too disappointed in himself to even get up, as tears welled in his eyes. Ben groaned in anger as Cyber Vilgax laughed at they both, Gentaro too upset to fight and Ben too injured to defend himself.

Just then a light shined down from the skies as the voice of Paradox gently called out to the two boys.

**"Hello down there, Ben and Gen! I see you're in a bit of a pickle here. Forgive my lateness, as I was busy fixing the damage Diagon did to the dimensional walls, though I have quite a bit of work left to do. If you're wondering where I am, I'm in Gen's universe, on my way to explain what's been happening over the past month of so. Though I should insist that Shun go to the bathroom first, as the parts with Cyber Vilgax may be too upsetting for the I go I must speak with Gentaro" **

Fourze lifted his head up to hear what Paradox had to say to him.

**"The glow of the constellations in your friends, they're not completely bad things to have. With some time they'll learn to utilize them for the greater good. Also about that thing with Dark Yuki, don't worry about that. There are rare occasions when a person with the potential to use Gemini's power has a evil, weaker soul that tries to take control, given the chance. You did the right thing freeing her from that dreadful fate. I believe in the both of you. Well then I shall see you later or earlier. Time is tricky to keep track of, even for one who walks in eternity such as myself. But before I go I must sugest that sometimes it's good to truly mix things up"**

With that, the portal closed and Ben got a idea. He was too injured to fight now, but Gentaro was back to fighting prime, Paradox's words soothing his soul and letting him know he helped Yuki and the others with their problems. Looking at Ben with a heroic fire in his eyes he waited for Ben to give his idea.

"You know how your Cosmic Switch fuses your powers together and Fusion both fuses and enhances them by four times. I wonder what would happen if you used both at the same time?"

Ben's question was making Gen go bugged eyed. "I never really thought about what could happen should I try that. If this doesn't work then we're out of luck, Ben-kun", sighing tiredly. "But it's worth a shot!" as he placed Cosmic and Fusion into the Driver and powered them both on, causing a bright purple light to shine from the Fourze Driver, as the rest of the 40 main Switches and the Super-1 Rocket Switch fused into his body, giving him even greater power than before. Ben shielded his eyes from the light during his transformation sequence. When it died down Fourze was now in a new form. It was like Cosmic States, but the cyan blue was now metallic lavender, the yellow lines on the mask were now tangerine color and on the Switching Lung were new buttons for Super-1 and Fusion.

Now he was **Super Cosmic States,** a being of ultimate power and the greatest embodiment of friendship this world has even seen. "Ben went wide eyed at how cool this looked, Fourze flexing a arm to test his new power. Cyber Vilgax was not impressed with this as he charged headon into Fourze.

With a swing of the Hammer Module, enhanced with Shield's power Fourze slammed C. Vilgax to a wall and fired at him with Drill-enhanced bullets with Gattling. Cyber Vilgax howled in total rage as he shot back with his lasers, causing Fourze pain as he fell down. Using Rocket to escape he latched onto Cyber Vilgax with Winch, as he dragged the beast though all manner of debris, causing Ben to laugh at his misfortune.

Cyber Vilgax grunted and used his sawblade foot to ground himself, knocking Fourze down as he punched the Rider and began to crush his windpipe. "You fool! All who serve the Flame Keeper willingly are forever Diagon's! Why do you still think I'll be your freind, cur?"

"Be..cause I was told...that my friends will save me...when the time comes" Fourze gasped out as his answer. Cyber Vilgax took that as a insult and squeezed harder, hoping to silence the Rider.

'I hope someone in our group has a plan to stop this!' Ben panicked, his thoughts all falling to what he wished for right now.

_Ben's house..._

Julie and Emily were scolding Cash and JT for breaking the Shin-Chan Switch and standing the Kamen Rider Club in this dimension, when Julie felt a burning sensation in her eyes. Without so much as a word she teleported away, leaving the three alone, as they looked on in horror.

_Diagon's home..._

Even with Super Cosmic, Fourze was not doing so well right now. Cyber Vilgax was almost ready to land his killing blow and there was NOTHING the two heroes could do to stop that!

Soon a purple beam sliced off Cyber Vilgax's arm, freeing the Kamen Rider as he jumped up and kicked the beast in the chest. But he didn't know if he had a weakpoint to hit as he looked at his foe with worry.

"Dude! I think that red bulb on his chest may be his weak spot! Try hitting it with a attack that hits both inside and out!" Ben's idea gave Fourze inspiration for a Limit Break like no other! Setting the Stamper Switch in he activated Super-1 and infused it with Cosmic's energies and Stamper with Hopping's ability to, well, hop.

"Rocket, SUPER ON!"

"Stamper ON!"

_"Limit Break!"_

_**"RIDER COSMIC ROCKET HOPPING STAMPER KICK!"**_

With all his might and a extra press of the lever that connected to the Fourze Driver, Gen did a extraordinary Rider Kick with Stamper right into the glowing orb on Cyber Vilgax's person, placing a blue stamp on there, ready to finish him off.

"Consider that the Kamen Rider Club stamp of DISAPPROVAL!" Ben shouted as both he and Gen hotfooted it to a opening that was thankfully still there the last time Ben was in this hellish place. When they were on the other side Ben turned into Clockwork and blasted the rocks there with a deaging ray, sealing the outside world from Diagon's dark realm.

"I didn't think this would work!" Clockwork admitted as Fourze powered down and fainted, the strain of battle finally catching up to him. So far he'd only use Clockwork to age things and use his time powers to use as a one alien CSI unit, but rewinding time works wonders too. Turning his to Fourze he snipped at the Rider "You were a big help, but you cost me three of my best guys. You owe me big for this" as he went back to his work. Cyber Vilgax was fuming as he tried to break on though to the other side, but Clockwork was doing a fine job at keeping him there...forever hopefully.

But it would take just a few more minutes to fully seal Diagon's world away and C. Vilgax was not going out with a whimper, but with a bang. "If I die, then you all will die will me!" he grimaced, his tone no longer robotic anymore as he slashed away at the door, threading to undo Ben's hard work. A bright purple beam stuck him down for good as Clockwork saw with horror that its wielder was someone near and dear to him: Julie Yamamoto.

"I'm sorry Ben" Clockwork watched on in terror as the door sealed shunt and Cyber Vilgax succumbed to the Limit Break, blowing up with a good amount of force.

Falling to his knees Clockwork was devastated by this news. The words he heard about those joining Diagon by will being his forever was true after all.

'I saved the Earth and the universe, but lost my world' he mourned inwardly.

Picking up Fourze and all his Switches Clcokwork walked outside to share the news.

Both Cyber Vilgax and Julie were dead. A price was paid this day and he doubt it could get any worst for him.

_Later..._

__The Kamen Rider Club was waiting for the two to come back, as the old quarry that once held a mob of Forever Knights and Flame Keepers was rather drafty, but surely enough Clockwork made his way to them.

Yuki ran up to the golden alien and quite worried about the duo. "Are you OK? Is it over?" she pleaded with a concerned look on her face.

"We FINALLY got rid of that blasted Diagon, but Julie was corrupted by his dark magic. We were forced to leave her behind"Clockwork quietly told her. Yuki and the others looked down in mourning. "But at least Vilgax is gone for good, thanks to Gentaro. He'll never hurt anyone ever again"

"That's all well and good, but Cash and JT broke the Shin-Chin Switch! We're stuck here!" Tojiro panicked as Erin went over to calm him down.

Putting her hands on his shoulders she calmly told him that "We may be struck here for a while, but at least we're with friends" The Kamen Rider Club smiled at the two, as did Ben. Gen,(who just woken up and feeling rightfully sore) and Ben's friends.

"I think Ben can keep you guys safe. I have to go back to Helen and make things right by her. I lost one good friend to Diagon. I can't lose her too" With that Manny Armstrong was on his way back to the woman he knew.

Ran was able to catch up to the Tetramand and give him a goodbye hug. "Friendship is a two way street. You have to both protect and understand the feelings of others so it can grow to be strong. We all wish you the best of luck, Manny-san" she wished, as the giant warrior hugged her back and was on his way to fix what he had broken.

"I think that though we lost a few things today we should have a party to celebrate our victory over the Horoscopes!" JK cheered. No one wanted to party right now,and he respected their wishes.

Clockwork turned back into Ben and stated what needed to be done. "First we have to have a service for Julie, and then figure out how you're all are going to stay. The Guiding Stars business is our best opinion, but do you all think that's the best idea?"

"You just answered your own question, Ben!" Erin interjected for the Club. Ben was pleased to hear that.

Lighting a candle and with Reiny's help, teleported it out to sea Yuki watched as the Club and Ben gain a stronger bond as Gentaro went over to her side. "Gentaro-chan, are you happy about staying with Ben just a little bit longer?"

His bright smile gave her the answer she admittedly wanted to hear. "Ben's world needs some cheering up and the Kamen Rider Club are the people to do that!" Yuki was so happy about that! Not only did she get to go on a space station, she was happy that she was closer with her friends and was closer than ever before with Gentaro. The two did their special handshake to commemorate this day, the day Vilgax was brought down...for GOOD.

"I guess life is like a good song. You know what you're getting, but there's always something new to learn about it and makes it better than it was before" Tojiro added as he wrapped a arm around Gen and Yuki, a smile on his face. "Things are going to rock so hard from now on!"

Ran polity giggled at the scene, but she and Erin were feeling the same way as those three. "So, what should we do for starters? I know there's a lot of cleanup to do and there's always the matter of those little odd jobs that pop up every now and then"

Erin was always one to take on a challenge. "We're doing everything that comes our way. It would do wonders for the reputation of both the Kamen Riders and our Club" she proudly told Ran, hands on her hips as she was ready to face the future that held such exciting promises for them all.

JK could not wait any more, as he fidgeted about. "You may speak freely, as you are among friends here"Sugilite kindly allowed the younger boy to say what was on his mind.

He did not wait any longer. "Can we go now? I'm freezing in here" he admitted, as he wrapped his arms around himself for warmth. Reiny was getting cold as well, so with that Ben's friends went home and the KRC and Ben headed home.

"So, Ben-san, about your alien heroes that you lost today. I'm sorry about their passing" Gentaro was feeling quite guilty about what happened, but Ben wasn't mad at him.

"Don't stress over that. They have just been relocked. Nothing new about that for me. Plus I have new guys to field test: Shocksqauash, Blox and Gravattack. Plus I like having you guys to help on. Wait, scratch that. I love having you arond as you've become like family to me" hearing that made the KRC very happy! "So, who's up for pizza? I'm buying!" As the teens walked to the nearly pizza shop Ben had to wonder something important:

**"Julie, if you're out there, please be safe"**

Also what happened to Rex? Hopefully that matter with his grandma will settle out nicely. Besides, how much harm can happen to Rex? He's more than capable of handling himself in a fight, right?

_Rex's universe... or what was left of it..._

Verdona was in utter shock by what she saw: There was no life left in this world even before she got there! 'Who could have done this?' she thought. As if the heavens themselves wanted her to know a small figure walked up to her.

"OH! It's just you dear" she breathed out as it was only Julie. Wait a darn minute...JULIE?

Before the thought could come up she was hit with a freezing spell, as the Diagon Empowered Julie walked off in search of a way back to her world. This world died all too easily and the Diagon that controlled her wanted more of a challenge.

Perhaps this world she just found out about will give her the fight she craves: the world of the Venture Bros...

**Next time: The thrilling conclusion to Part 1 of the Diagon Trilogy! Find out how the KRC handles being stranded in Ben's world! Plus Rook comes to Earth, as Manny tried to rebuild his life with Helen! See you all there!**


	23. So much for my happy ending

**Disclaimer: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners. I plan on making no money off of this and I shall respect the wishes of the license holders.**

Final Chapter: So much for my happy ending...

_Somewhere not too far from Bellwood..._

Helen was shocked by the fact that Manny had come back to her. But she was pleased that he came back after all. "Look, what I've said was hurtful and I know that Pierce would have never wanted that to happen to us. _sigh_ What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry about before. Are we still partners, Manny?" as a pleating look was on her face.

Manny was happy to be back in both her company and good graces. "It was a bad time for both of us, but thanks to some good friends of Ben's I was able to work past that. We're Plumbers, Helen. Nothing is ever gonna change that" With things back to normal somewhat the two were looking forward to a fresh start and a better life.

_Pizza Galaxy..._

Ben was still sad about what happened, but you must admit having the Kamen Rider Club with you is going to make your day brighter, as it was a life mission for them to better everyone's lives. "I'm glad we're doing OK, but since we lost both Manny and Julie to events beyond our control we're going to need a extra set of hands" as he sipped his soda.

Gentaro was happily chewing his slice of mango-mushroom pizza, but he was able to tear away from that to inject something that he really wanted to add. "You are one of the best people we have ever met in any universe, Ben-san! We're going to make so many new friends here and someday I hope that you'll get a chance to visit our world too! I know Eiji, Shotaro and Philip would love to meet you!"

Yuki was explaining the physics of satellites to a group of eager children, happy that they loved space too. When her talk was done she went over and draped her arms around her quirky, yet kindhearted and loving boyfriend. " You're so lucky that you have so many adventures in space, Ben-kun! Plus you're so kind and heroic as well. I know my family would love to meet you, as we love learning about new cultures and you'd fit right in with us!" as she snuggled with Gentaro, then letting go and sitting down by him as she kissed him on the cheek.

Erin was eating her meat lover's pizza as she gave the two lovebirds her approval. "I'll admit Ben's world is odd and I'm still working on my temper. But I'm happy that I got to meet and live with all of you. When I do become a astronaut I'd love for all of you to come and visit me during one of my trips. I know Yuki would love to see how much fun it is to experience zero gravity!" Yuki was giddy about Erin's promise as Erin was wanting to do that too. They'd had to bug Ben to let them play with Gravattack when they got home.

JK sipped his lemonade and replied " I was such a coward when I first came to school. Now I'm more willing to fight for what's right, plus I'm always willing to learn about new things going on anywhere. I pride myself in staying in the know", a bright smile forming on his face.

"Let's hope you're not charging those ridiculous prices you were asking for back in middle school. People have needs themselves and if we don't get money, then we can't eat, bro. I gotta get my grub on when I get the need to feed!" as Tojiro did a air guitar to make his point. He was loving all the new foods there were to enjoy here and he wanted to get some recipes down before he went home.

Ran was nibbling her vegetarian pizza, deep in thought. When she stopped she was wondering about something and hoped the others were thinking about it too. "I would love to have a new friend help out with our jobs, but who's willing to put up with the danger that we have to fight against on a daily basis?" No sooner than she asked that a young man in purple armor walked up to them and placed a bag of chill fries by Ben. Tojiro wanted to eat them, but Erin smacked his hand away from it, as what he wanted to do was rude. "You're going to have to wait until our guest makes his point" she giggled, as the rocker rubbed his hand.

"I am Rook Blonko. Magister Tennyson has assigned me as your new partner, Ben" Ben knew that he was getting a new partner and that Gwen and Kevin were heading off to live their lives, Gwen starting college early and Kevin getting a new job to stay closer to her. He had also heard much about Rook, and while he knew that he was a great Plumber and a kind hearted fellow, he was new to Earth and had much to learn, both on Earth and beyond. "I hope my offering of chili fries is to your liking, Ben Dude" He was very pleased that is was, as Ben and Tojiro tore into the cheesy, meaty goodness that was the chili fries. "I'm glad to have met all of you and hope to learn more about all of you later. A friend of Ben's is here to say goodbye and address a point he has been wising to make for some time"

A muscled teen walked up to Ben with a sour look on his face. As he cracked his knuckles he told Ben the one thing he's been dying to say ever since he got that E-mail, all that time ago.

"Remember when you repainted my car that girly color and added all those happy faces to it? Well I hate your taste in color schemes and both my folks and my neighborhood like it so much that I can't change it back! Well, I think you'll remember how I handle things you change about me without my asking"

Ben got up and tried to run away, but Kevin was able to tackle him to the ground and punch him in the face, as Ben was forced to raise his arms up to block his blows. As the KRC and Rook were trying to force Kevin off, a sharp voice snapped, "So not cool, Kevin! You really don't handle change well, do you?" But Kevin was lost in his own little world, as Gwen huffed and went in to try and make peace between her two teammates...AGAIN.

**The end of part one of the Diagon Trilogy**

**Well, that's it for the first part of my little story! I added Gwen and Kevin at the end, since I knew Kevin wasn't going to take the adding on of a new paintjob from the Kamen Rider Club in stride. I hope you enjoyed this tale and I will see you in **_**Dash Forward! Three Heroes!**_** Until then, fare thee well and I hope you all are doing well!**

**Special thanks to both Shotaro Ishinomori and Man of Action for creating the Kamen Rider and Ben 10 series, respectfully. Your works have brought joy to fans everywhere for years and I must take the time to address that fact. You guys rock!**


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